A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF 
EMINENT  WOMEN 


BY 

CORA  SUTTON  CASTLE,  A.B.,  M.L. 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulflllment  of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of 
FMlosophy,  in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,  Columbia  University 


Reprinted  from  the  Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  27. 


NEW  YOKK  CITY 
AUGUST,  1913 


V^^ 


Copyright,  1913 
By  Cora  Sutton  Castle 


TO 

one  of  the  noblest  and  best  of  women 

—  Harriet  Snow  Sutton  — 

MY  MOTHER 


282326 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

Gratitude  impels  me  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  J. 
McKeen  Cattell,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Psychology  in  Colum- 
bia University,  whose  valuable  suggestions  and  criticisms  have 
been  my  constant  incentive  throughout  this  study.  Indeed,  this 
research  had  its  origin  in  my  interest  in  Professor  Cattell's  "Statis- 
tical Study  of  Eminent  Men"  to  which  I  have  referred  so  frequently 
in  this  book,  and  to  his  suggestion  that  a  study  of  eminent  women 
ought  to  be  made  along  similar  lines.  The  so-called  "Order  of 
Merit  Method"  used  in  selecting  the  list  of  eminent  women  was 
devised  by  Professor  Cattell  in  1902  (Philos.  Studien,  XIX.,  p.  63). 
It  is,  thus,  peculiarly  true  that  whatever  value  or  interest  may 
attach  to  this  study  is,  in  large  measure,  due  to  the  work  previously 
done  by  Professor  Cattell,  and  to  his  constant  and  kindly  assistance. 

I  wish  also  to  express  my  gratitude  to  R.  S.  Woodworth,  Ph.D., 
Professor  of  Psychology  in  Columbia  University,  for  reading  and 
criticising  my  manuscript  and  offering  me  helpful  suggestions. 

To  my  husband,  H.  Edward  Castle,  M.D.,  whose  keen  interest, 
encouragement,  and  excellent  judgment  relative  to  this  work  have 
aided  me  so  materially,  I  am  profoundly  grateful. 

For  the  careful,  patient  work  of  Miss  Lillian  Neppner  in  pre- 
paring the  manuscript,  I  tender  my  sincere  thanks. 

C.  S.  c. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I. — The  Eminent  Women  of  History. 

What  is  Meant  by  an  Eminent  Woman 1 

Method  of  Selecting  the  Group 1 

Historical  Sketch 2 

The  List  of  Names  Arranged  in  Order  of  Merit 4 

Chapter  II. — Distribution  of  Eminent  Women. 

By  Centuries  26 

By  Nationality    34 

By  Occupation    40 

Chapter  III. — Marriage  of  Eminent  Women. 

The  Unmarried  Group 49 

Eminent  Women  Who  Married  Eminent  Husbands 55 

The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands  Arranged  in  Order  of  Merit .  56 

Age  at  Which  Eminent  Women  Marry 66 

Eminent  Women  Who  Married  More  than  Once 70 

Divorce    71 

Chapter  IV. — Length  of  Life  of  Eminent  Women. 

Average  Age  at  Death  74 

According  to  Degree  of  Eminence 75 

In  Different  Centuries 78 

In  Different  Occupations 78 

In  Different  Nations   79 

Eminent  Women  who  Suffered  Violent  or  Unnatural  Deaths  80 

Chapter  V. — Relationship  Among  Eminent  Women. 

Comparison   of  the   Occupations   of  Eminent  Women   and 

Those  of  Their  Fathers 82 

Cases  of  Relationship  Between  Eminent  Women 83 

Chapter  VI. — Contemporary  Eminent  Women 85 

Chapter  VII. — Conclusions 87 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 
CHAPTER  I 

The  Eminent  Women  of  History 
What  is  Meant  hij  an  Eminent  Woman 

The  word  eminent  as  used  in  this  study  covers  the  range  of 
meaning  designated  by  the  "Century  Dictionary"  which  defines 
the  term  as  "high  in  rank,  office,  worth,  or  pubhc  estimation; 
conspicuous,  highly  distinguished."  According  to  the  same 
authority,  the  word  is  rarely  used  in  a  bad  sense.  Dr.  Francis 
Galton,^  who  made  the  first  statistical  study  of  distinguished  men, 
defined  his  use  of  eminent  thus:  "When  I  speak  of  an  eminent  man, 
I  mean  one  who  has  achieved  a  position  that  is  attained  by  only 
250  persons  in  each  million  of  men,  or  by  one  person  in  each  4,000." 
While  my  selection  is  closer,  mathematically,  than  Galton's,  among 
the  868  women  whom  I  have  designated  as  eminent,  some  are 
included  because  of  circumstances  over  which  they  had  no  control, 
such  as  great  beauty,  or  congenital  misfortune.  Many  were  born 
to  their  positions;  to  others  is  due  but  httle  credit  for  the  fact 
that  they  married  men  sufiiciently  eminent  to  accord  them  a  place 
in  history.  Some  led  spectacular  lives  and  were  notorious  rather 
than  meritorious.  Many  of  them  were  women  of  unusual  intel- 
lectual ability  and  were  eminent  in  the  ordinary  connotation  of  the 
term.  More  or  less  biographical  data  are  at  command  concerning 
these  868  women,  and  to  the  extent  that  reputation  may  be  con- 
sidered a  just  index  of  ability,  they  are  entitled  to  a  place  in  a 
catalogue  of  the  distinguished  of  earth. 

Selection  of  the  Group 

In  selecting  the  group  I  have  followed  precisely  the  objective 
method  devised  by  Professor  J.  McKeen  CattelP  in  his  "Statistical 
Study  of  Eminent  Men."  My  method,  in  detail,  was  as  follows: 
I  went  through  the  "Lippincott  Biographical  Dictionary"  (3d  ed., 
1908),  the  "Americana,"  "Nouveau  La  Rousse,"  Brockhaus's 
"Konversations-Lexikon,"  Meyer's  "Konversations-Lexikon,"  and 

1  "Hereditary  Genius,"  1869,  p.  10. 

2  "Statistical  Study  of  Eminent  Men,"  Pov-  Sci.  Mo.,  Vol.  62,  p.  359,  1903 
2  1 


2  A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

the  *' Encyclopaedia  Britannica"  (11th  ed.,  1910)  and  noted  the 
name  of  every  woman  mentioned  in  each.  This  gave,  approxi- 
mately, 1,755  names  from  Lippincott,  1,384  from  the  "Americana," 
2,670  from  "La  Rousse,"  985  from  Brockhaus,  1,100  from  Meyer, 
and  713  from  the  "Britannica."  I  retained  for  my  list  the  name 
of  every  woman  noted  in  any  three  out  of  the  six  encyclopedias 
or  dictionaries.  My  original  intention  was  to  eliminate  from 
the  lower  end  of  the  group  until  I  had  1,000,  a  convenient  and 
sufficiently  large  number  with  which  to  work.  But  when  I  had 
discarded  the  twenty-three  Biblical  characters  the  entire  number 
was  only  868.  It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  sex  that  from  the 
dawn  of  history  to  the  present  day  less  than  1,000  women  have 
accomplished  anything  that  history  has  recorded  as  worth  while. 
One  can  not  evade  the  question, — is  woman  innately  so  inferior  to 
man,  or  has  the  attitude  of  civilization  been  to  close  the  avenues  of 
eminence  against  her? 

Historical  Sketch 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  first  selection  of  a  group  of  persons 
for  statistical  study  was  made  by  Dr.  Francis  Galton,  who,  in  1869, 
published  his  "Hereditary  Genius."  The  definite  object  of  his 
book  is  to  show  "that  a  man's  natural  abilities  are  derived  by 
inheritance,  under  exactly  the  same  hmitations  as  are  the  form 
and  physical  features  of  the  whole  organic  world."  To  do  this, 
he  studied  the  relationships  of  286  judges  of  England  between 
1660  and  1865,  57  statesmen,  31  English  peerages,  32  commanders, 
52  literary  persons,  65  scientific  men,  24  poets,  26  musicians,  26 
painters,  33  divines,  36  senior  classics  of  Cambridge,  21  oarsmen, 
and  46  wrestlers  of  the  North  Country. 

In  1874  Dr.  Galton  published  a  further  study  entitled,  "English 
Men  of  Science:  Their  Nature  and  Nurture." 

In  1873  Alphonse  de  Candolle  published  his  "Histoire  des 
sciences  et  des  savants  depuis  deux  siecles,"  a  research  based  on  the 
membership  of  the  scientific  societies  of  Europe  in  order  to  test 
the  validity  of  Darwin's  theory  of  natural  selection. 

Dr.  Paul  Jacoby  made  the  next  extensive  study  of  a  group  of 
individuals,  publishing  in  1881  his  "Etudes  sur  la  selection  chez 
I'homme."  His  fist  of  3,311  eminent  men  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  selected  from  the  "Biographic  Universelle." 

Professor  A.  Odin's  "Genese  des  grands  hommes"  is  a  study  of 
6,382  French  men  of  letters.  The  group  includes  334  women. 
This  study  was  published  in  1895. 

In  addition  to  the  1,000  eminent  men  of  history  studied  by 


THE  EMINENT   WOMEN  OF  HISTORY  3 

Professor  Cattell,  he  selected  1,000  students  of  Columbia  University 
for  physical  and  mental  measurement.^ 

In  1903,  under  title  of  "Homo  Scientificus  Americanus:  Address 
of  the  President  of  the  American  Society  of  Naturalists,"  there 
appeared  in  Science,  N.  S.,  17,  561-570,  Professor  Cattell's  study 
of  a  thousand  American  men  of  science.  A  study  of  the  same 
group  was  made  seven  years  later  and  the  results  published  in 
Science,  32,  633-648,  672-688,  under  the  title,  "A  Further  Statis- 
tical Study  of  American  Men  of  Science." 

Mr.  Havelock  Ellis's  "Study  of  British  Genius,"  1904,'»  is  a 
study  of  975  British  men  and  55  British  women  of  eminence.  The 
list  is  based  on  the  "Dictionary  of  National  Biography." 

Dr.  F.  A.  Woods  in  "Mental  and  Moral  Heredity  in  Royalty," 
1906,^  made  a  statistical  study  in  the  history  and  psychology  of 
832  members  of  royal  famihes. 

Several  less  extensive  studies  of  groups  of  individuals  have 
been  made  from  time  to  time,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the 
study  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  1,150  eminent  British 
men  and  women  pubhshed  by  A.  Conan  Doyle  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century  for  August,  1888,  under  title,  "Distribution  of  British 
Intellect."  He  based  his  list  on  a  recent  edition  of  "Men  of  the 
Time." 

"A  Study  of  Twentieth  Century  Success,"  by  Professor  Edwin 
Grant  Dexter,  based  on  the  1900  edition  of  "Who's  Who"  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  for  July,  1902. 

"Marriage  Among  Eminent  Men,"  by  Professor  Edward  L. 
Thorndike,  also  based  on  the  current  issue  of  "Who's  Who,"  was 
published  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly  for  August,  1902. 

In  the  January  number  of  the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  1904, 
appeared  a  study  of  954  women  culled  from  the  1902  edition  of 
"Who's  Who,"  by  Amanda  Carolyn  Northrop  under  the  title, 
"The  Successful  Women  of  America." 

So  far  as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  learn,  no  statistical  study 
has  been  made  of  the  women  of  history. 

When  the  list  of  868  names  was  completed,  I  followed  Professor 
Cattell's  method  of  arranging  them  in  order  of  merit.  Counting 
the  number  of  lines  accorded  the  women  of  my  list  in  the  differ- 
ent encyclopedias  or  dictionaries,  the  following  results  were  ob- 
tained : 

^  See  Psych.  Rev.,  3:  618-648,  and  the  dissertation  for  the  doctorate  of  Clark 
Wissler,  "The  Correlation  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests,"  Psych.  Rev.,  Mono- 
graph Supplements,  16:  IV.,  62,  1901. 

*  Published  also  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Feb.-Sept.,  1901. 

*  Published  also  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Aug.,  1902-April,  1903. 


No.  of  Women 

Average  No.  of 

Selected 

Lines 

per  Woman 

727 

11.6 

704 

19.1 

544 

24.1 

612 

24.1 

631 

24.2 

516 

52.8 

4  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

Total  Number  Lines 
Accorded  Selected 
Authority  Women 

Lippincott 8,476 

La  Rousse 13,483 

Americana 13,151 

Brockhaus 14,804 

Meyer 15,301 

Britannica 27,284 

In  order  to  reduce  the  results  to  a  common  standard,  that  of  10 
being  selected  in  this  case,  it  was  necessary  in  each  instance  to 
divide  the  number  of  lines  accorded  a  woman  in  Lippincott  by  1.2; 
in  La  Rousse  by  1.9;  in  the  Americana  by  2.4;  as  also  in  Brockhaus 
and  Meyer;  and  in  the  Britannica  by  5.3.  By  adding  the  results 
from  the  different  authorities  a  figure  was  obtained  which  deter- 
mined the  position  of  the  woman  in  the  series  of  868.  The  list  of 
names  follows,  the  date  of  birth  and  death,  when  known,  being 
added  for  purposes  of  identification,  as  well  as  the  figure  obtained 
as  explained  above  which  determines  her  position  in  the  order  of 
merit.  Those  designated  by  a  star  are  known  to  have,  been 
married  one  or  more  times;  those  designated  by  a  dagger  have  not 
married.  The  conjugal  relation  of  those  not  designated  is  unknown 
to  the  writer. 

The  List  op  Eminent  Wgmen 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

*Mary  Stuart 607.67 

tJeanne  d'Arc 533.72 

♦Victoria  of  England 533.34 

fElizabeth  of  England 441.15 

*Sand,  George 412.04 

*Stacl-Holstcin,  Anne  Germaine  Necker  de. 362.20 

♦Catherine  IL  of  Russia 349.66 

♦Maria  Theresa  of  Austria 269.06 

♦Marie  Antoinette  of  France 224.99 

♦Anne  of  England 210.67 

♦S6vign6,  Marie  de  Rabutin-Chantal  de 209.61 

♦Mary  I.  of  England 195.87 

♦Eliot,  George 191.67 

tChristina  of  Sweden 190.05 

♦Browning,  Elizabeth  Barrett 183.73 

♦Maintcnon,  Francois  D'Aubign(5 182.33 

♦Josephine,  Empress  of  France 174.22 

♦Catherine  de  Medici 170.09 

♦Cleopatra 167.66 

♦Stowc,  Harriet  Beecher 167.40 

♦Bronte,  Charlotte 158.30 

fCorday,  Charlotte 145.00 


No. 

Date 

1 

1542-1587 

2 

1411-1431 

3 

1819-1901 

4 

1534-1604 

5 

1804-1876 

6 

1766-1817 

7 

1729-1796 

8 

1717-1780 

9 

1755-1793 

10 

1666-1714 

11 

1626-1696 

12 

1516-1558 

13 

1819-1880 

14 

1626-1689 

15 

1806-1861 

16 

1635-1719 

17 

1763-1814 

18 

1519-1589 

19 

69  B.C.-30 

20 

1S11-1S96 

21 

1816-1855 

22 

1768-1793 

THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


The 


No. 

Date 

23 

1754-1793 

24 

1721-1764 

25 

1764-1824 

26 

1515-1582 

27 

1503-1536 

28 

1709-1762 

29 

630  B.C.-570 

30 

1746-1830 

31 

,1207-1231 

32 

1767-1849 

33 

1573-1642 

34 

1752-1840 

35 

1776-1810 

36 

1485-1536 

37 

1537-1554 

38 

1793-1835 

39 

1430-1482 

40 

1777-1849 

41 

1688-1727 

42 

1830-1904 

43 

1492-1549 

44 

1697-1780 

45 

1810-1865 

46 

1826- 

47 

1810-1850 

48 

1689-1762 

49 

1845- 

50 

.  3d  century 

51 

1820-1887 

52 

1802-1872 

53 

1783-1837 

54 

1451-1504 

55 

1851- 

56 

1648-1717 

57 

1607-1701 

58 

1741-1807 

59 

1743-1825 

60 

1791-1847 

61 

1828-1897 

62 

1627-1693 

63 

1801-1865 

64 

1630-1676 

65 

422  -  512 

66 

1780-1849 

67 

-  230 

68 

1480-1519 

69 

1619-1679 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

*Roland,  Marie  Jean  Phlipon 138.05 

*Pompadour,  Jeanne  Antoinette  Poisson.  ...  137.42 

*Krudener,  Barbara  Juliana 133.91 

tTheresa,  Saint 126.08 

*Boleyn,  Anne 125.71 

tElizabeth  of  Russia 118.68 

*Sappho 118.58 

*GenIis,  Stephanie  F61icit^  Du  Crest  de 

Saint-Aubin 118.56 

♦Elizabeth,  Saint 117.24 

fEdgeworth,  Maria 114.95 

*Marie  de  Medici 113.53 

*Burney,  Francis  (Madame  d'Arblay) 112.90 

*Louise  Auguste  Amalie  of  Prussia 111.30 

*Catharine  of  Aragon 110.73 

*Grey,  Lady  Jane 109.61 

*Hemans,  Fehcia  Dorothea 109.42 

♦Margaret  of  Anjou 108.20 

*R6camier,  Jeanne  Frangois  Juhe  Adelaide.  106.79 

♦Catherine  L  of  Russia 105.14 

♦Isabel  of  Spain 105.08 

♦Margaret  of  Angouleme 103.49 

♦Deffand,  Marie  Anne  Vichy-Chamroud 103.37 

♦Gaskell,  Elizabeth  Cleghorn 102.79 

♦Eugenie  of  France 100.69 

♦Fuller,     Sarah     Margaret     (Marchioness 

Ossoli) 100.45 

♦Montagu,  Lady  Mary  Wortley 100.40 

♦Bernhardt,  Sarah 100.16 

♦Zenobia 98.70 

♦Lind,  Jenny 97.55 

fMartineau,  Harriet 96.25 

♦Hortense  of  Holland 95.80 

♦Isabella  of  Castile 95.17 

♦Ward,  Mrs.  Humphrey 94.46 

♦Guyon,  Jeanne  Marie  Bouvier  de  La  Motte.   94.45 

Scudery,  Madeleine  de 92.26 

♦Kauffmann,  Maria  Angelica 91.83 

♦Barbauld,  Anna  Letitia 91.69 

♦Marie  Louise  of  France 91.43 

♦Oliphant,  Margaret  Wilson 90.31 

♦Montpensier,  Anne  Marie  Louise  d'Orl^ans .   89.94 

tBremer,  Fredrika 89.60 

♦Brinvilliers,  Marie  Madeleine  Marguerite 

d'Aubray 89.03 

tGenevieve,  Saint 88.78 

♦Catalani,  Angelica 88.17 

♦Cecilia,  Saint 87.61 

♦Borgia,  Lucrezia 87.59 

♦Longueville,  Anne  Genevieve 87.20 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 


No. 

Date 

70 

-1355 

71 

-  384 

72 

1759-1797 

73 

1347-1380 

74 

1820-1858 

75 

1641-1707 

76 

1726-1783 

77 

1832-1888 

78 

1789-1849 

79 

1634-1693 

80 

508  -  548 

81 

1843- 

82 

1820-1910 

83 

1353-1412 

84 

1752-1822 

85 

1822-1899 

86 

-  307 

87 

1638-1694 

88 

1743-1810 

89 

1762-1851 

90 

1755-1831 

91 

1577-1599 

92 

1805-1880 

93 

1761-1815 

94 

1644-1710 

95 

1766-1839 

96 

1327-1382 

97 

1745-1833 

98 

1794-1860 

99 

1654-1720 

100 

1046-1115 

101 

1785-1859 

102 

1609-1666 

103 

534  -  613 

104 

1815-1902 

105 

1768-1821 

106 

370  -  415 

107 

1830- 

108 

1804-1855 

109 

1742-1827 

110 

1490-1547 

111 

1807-1877 

112 

1553-1615 

113 

1681-1749 

114 

1548-1587 

The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

♦Castro,  Inez  de 86.89 

tUrsula,  Saint 86.59 

♦Godwin,  Mary  WoUstonecraft 86.57 

tCatherine,  Saint  of  Sienna 85.63 

tRachel,  Elizabeth  Felix 85.33 

♦Montespan,  Fran^oise  Ath6nais  de  Roche- 

chouart 84.53 

*Epinay,  Louise  Florence  P^tronille  Tar- 

dieu  d'Esclavelles  d' 84.46 

tAlcott,  Louisa  May 83.96 

*Blessington,  Margaret 83.50 

*La  Fayette,  Marie  Madeleine  Pioche  de 

la  Vergne 83.21 

♦Theodora 83.09 

♦Elizabeth  of  Roumania  (Carmen  Sylva)  .  .  .   82.41 

tNightingale,  Florence 82.40 

♦Margaret  of  Denmark,  Norway  and  Sweden  82.31 
♦Campan,  Jeanne  Louise  Henriette  Genest.   81.84 

tBonheur,  Rosa 81.82 

tCatherine,  Saint 80.93 

♦Deshoulieres,  Antoinette  du  Ligier  de  la 

Garde 80.08 

♦Daschkow,  Katharina  Romanowna 79.62 

tBailHe,  Joanna 79.40 

♦Siddons,  Sarah  Kemble 78.57 

fCenci,  Beatrice 77.67 

♦Hahn-Hahn,  Ida  Marie  Louise  Sophie  von.   77.31 

♦Hamilton,  Lady  Emma 77.27 

La  Valliere,  Louise  Frangoise  de  la  Baume 

le  Blanc  de 77.23 

tStanhope,  Lady  Hester  Lucy 76.70 

♦Joan  I.  of  Naples 76.69 

tMore,  Hannah 76.67 

♦Jameson,  Anna  Brownell 76.35 

♦Dacier,  Anne  Lef evre 76.16 

♦Matilda 76.04 

♦Arnim,  Elizabeth  or  Bettina 75.94 

♦Henrietta  Maria  of  France 75.56 

♦Brunhilde  or  Brunehaut 74.91 

♦Stanton,  Elizabeth  Cady 73.33 

♦Caroline  Amelia  Augusta  of  England 72.90 

tHypatia 72.31 

♦Ebner-Eschenbach,  Marie 72.04 

♦Girardin,  Dclnhine  Gay 71.93 

♦Stein,  Charlotte  von 71.69 

♦Colonna,  Vittoria 70.32 

tCarpenter,  Mary 69.89 

♦Margaret  of  Navarre 69.73 

Tencin,  Claudine  Alexandrine  Gu6rin  de .  .  .  69.24 
♦Cappello,  Bianca 68.39 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


The 


No. 

Date 

115 

1808-1877 

116 

1499-1566 

117 

1188-1252 

118 

1775-1817 

119 

752  -  803 

120 

1642-1722 

121 

1808-1836 

122 

1783-1859 

123 

-  780 

124 

1800-1868 

125 

405  B.C.- 

126 

1596-1662 

127 

1822-1911 

128 

1122-1204 

129 

1640-1689 

130 

1780-1872 

131 

1515-1560 

132 

1780-1845 

133 

1706-1749 

134 

1807-1892 

135 

1805-1876 

136 

1660-1744 

137 

1371-1435 

138 

1786-1855 

139 

1693-1750 

140 

1699-1777 

141 

1837- 

142 

1837-1898 

143 

1480-1530 

144 

1811-1893 

145 

1613-1650 

146 

1842-1902 

147 

1476-1531 

148 

1615-1705 

149 

1573-1599 

150 

1753-1821 

151 

1692-1730 

152 

1693-1740 

153 

1811-1889 

154 

1819-1910 

155 

1797-1848 

156 

1802-1880 

157 

1840-1908 

158 

1829-1888 

159 

1825-1887 

160 

1499-1552 

161 

1575-1615 

162 

1856- 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 
Name 


No.  of 
Lines 


*Norton,  Caroline  Elizabeth 68.05 

*Diana  of  Poitiers 68.02 

♦Blanche  of  Castile 67.90 

fAusten,  Jane 67.72 

*Irene  of  Byzantium 67.16 

*Ursins,  des  Anne  Marie  de  la  Tr^mouille.  .  .  65.87 

*Malibran,  Marie  Felicite 65.78 

*Morgan,  Lady  Sidney 65.54 

tWalpurgis,  Saint 64.98 

*Birch-Pfeiffer,  Charlotte 64.32 

Aspasia 64.09 

♦Elizabeth  Stuart  of  England 63.76 

*Eddy,  Mary  Baker  Glover 63.74 

♦Eleanor  of  Aquitane 63.65 

*Behn,  Aphra  Johnson 63.15 

*Somerville,  Mary  Fairfax 62.63 

♦Mary  of  Guise 61.51 

*Fry,  Elizabeth  Gurney 61.44 

♦Chatelet,  Gabrielle  Emilie  le  Tonnelier  de 

BreteuU 61.40 

*Carlen,  Emilia  Smith  Flygare 60.99 

♦Agoult,  Marie  de  Flavigny 60.94 

♦Marlborough,  Sarah  Jennings 60.67 

♦Joanna  IL  of  Naples 60.53 

tMitford,  Mary  Russell 60.46 

♦Staal  von,  Marguerite  Jeanne  Cordier 59.99 

♦GeofTrin,  Marie  Therese  Rodet 59.74 

♦Braddon,  Mary  Ehzabeth 59.29 

♦EUzabeth  Amehe  Eugenie  of  Austria 59.28 

♦Margaret  of  Austria 59.07 

♦Kemble,  Frances  Anne 58.99 

Delorme,  Marion 58.53 

♦Durand,     Alice     Marie    Celeste     Henry 

(Henry  Gr6ville) 58.40 

♦Louise  of  Savoy 58.33 

fLenclos,  Ninon  de  (Anne) 58.27 

♦Estrees,  Gabrielle  d' 58.24 

♦Inchbald,  Elizabeth  Simpson 57.97 

Lecouvreur,  Adrienne 57.61 

♦Anne  Iwanowna  of  Russia 57.53 

♦Lewald,  Fanny 57.44 

♦Howe,  Julia  Ward 57.07 

Droste-Hulshoff,  Annette  Elizabeth 57.03 

♦Child,  Lydia  Maria 57.01 

Ouida  (Louise  de  la  Ram6) 56.95 

♦Dora  d'Istria 56.83 

John,  Eugenie  (E.  MarUtt) 56.73 

♦Bora,  Katharina  von 56.53 

♦Stuart,  Arabella 56.28 

♦Serao,  Matilde 56.08 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


The 


No. 

Date 

163 

1750-1791 

164 

1175-1190 

165 

2d  cent.  B.C. 

166 

1804-1860 

167 

1703-1768 

168 

1805-1854 

169 

545  -  597 

170 

1400-1436 

171 

1363- 

172 

-  62 

173 

1815-1876 

174 

1102-1167 

175 

1843- 

176 

1821-1906 

177 

932  -1002 

178 

1670-1728 

179 

1814-1906 

180 

1666-1726 

181 

1506-1534 

182 

1812-1885 

183 

1840- 

184 

1831-1891 

185 

1600-1643 

186 

1821-1910 

187 

-  404 

188 

1830-1905 

189 

1644-1670 

190 

1843- 

191 

1762-1817 

192 

390  B.C.-316 

193 

1819-1853 

194 

1764-1794 

195 

1846-1901 

196 

1760-1836 

197 

1796-1877 

198 

1667-1723 

199 

70  B.C.-U 

200 

1528-1572 

201 

1630-1714 

202 

1732-1776 

203 

1820-1897 

204 

1601-1666 

205 

1764-1823 

206 

1851- 

207 

250  -  327 

208 

1859- 

209 

1670-1734 

210 

1827-1880 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

*Lamotte,  Jeanne  de  Luz  de  Saint-R6my 

de  Valois 55.73 

Marie  de  France 55.45 

*Cornelia 55.36 

*Schr6der-Devrient,  Wilhelmine 55.24 

*Marie  Leszczynska 55.19 

*Sontag,  Henriette 54.91 

*Fredigond  or  Fredegunda 54.68 

*Jacqueline  of  Bavaria 54.62 

♦Christine  de  Pisan 54.53 

*Boadicea 54.50 

*Duringsfeld,  Ida  von 54.47 

♦Matilda  of  England 54.26 

*Patti,  Adelina  Maria  Clorinda 53.97 

*Ristori,  Adelaide 53.89 

Hrotsvitha 53.87 

Konigsmarck,  Maria  Aurora 53.80 

*Burdett-Coutts,  Angela  Georgina 53.72 

*Sophia  Dorothea  of  Brunswick 53.45 

tBarton,  Elizabeth 53.09 

*Fullerton,  Lady  Georgiana  Leveson  Gower.  52.93 

*Carlotta  of  Mexico 52.87 

*Blavatsky,  Helena  Petrovna  Hahn-Hahn .  .   52.82 

♦Hutchinson,  Anne 52.64 

♦Viardot,  Pauline  Garcia 52.44 

♦Eudoxia 52.39 

Michel,  Clemence  Louise 52.25 

♦Henrietta  Anne 52.22 

♦Suttner,  Berta  von 52.20 

Th6roigne  de   Mericourt,   Anne  Josephe 

Ferwagne 52.18 

♦Olympias  of  Macedon 52.09 

♦Maria  II.  da  Gloria  of  Portugal 52.07 

tElizabeth  of  France 51.86 

tGreenaway,  Kate 51.76 

♦Souza  de,  Addle  Filleul 51.74 

♦Carballero,  Ferndn 51.35 

♦Centlivre,  Susanna  Freeman 51.26 

♦Octavia 51.21 

♦Joan  of  Navarre 51.06 

♦Sophia  of  Hanover 50.98 

Lcspinasse,  Jeanne  Julie  El(!5anore  de 50.74 

flngelow,  Jean 50.52 

♦Anne  of  Austria 50.31 

♦Iladcliff e,  Ann  Ward 50.25 

♦Pardo-Bazan,  Emilia 50.16 

♦Helena,  Saint 50.09 

♦Duse,  Eleanora 49.95 

♦Masham,  Lady  Abigail  Hill 49.94 

♦Assing,  Ludmilla 49.72 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


The 


No. 

Date 

211 

1857- 

212 

1822-1904 

213 

1818-1861 

214 

1864- 

215 

1662-1694 

216 

1720-1788 

217 

1370-1435 

218 

1834- 

219 

1779-1847 

220 

1849- 

221 

1040-1080 

222 

1860-1884 

223 

1823-1901 

224 

1739-1821 

225 

1836- 

226 

1657-1704 

227 

1740-1805 

228 

1749-1792 

229 

1816-1873 

230 

1850-1891 

231 

1790-1863 

232 

1588-1665 

233 

1778-1851 

234 

1850- 

235 

1839-1869 

236 

1821-1910 

237 

1820-1887 

238 

1842- 

239 

1538-1619 

240 

-1435 

241 

1806-1878 

242 

1847- 

243 

1422-1450 

244 

1508-1580 

245 

1789-1867 

246 

1751-1775 

247 

1849-1887 

248 

1731-1807 

249 

1843- 

250 

1723-1803 

251 

1776-1852 

252 

1616-1680 

253 

401  -  460 

254 

1522-1586 

255 

1830-1894 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

*Rejane,  Gabrielle  (Charlotte  Reju) 49.66 

tCobbe,  Frances  Power 49.60 

*Montez,  Lola 49.51 

tCorelli,  Marie 49.49 

*Mary  II.  of  England 49.30 

♦Kingston,  Elizabeth  Chudleigh 49.28 

♦Isabella  of  Bavaria 49.24 

*Tsu-hsi  of  China 49.02 

Mars,  Anne  Frangoise  Hippolyte  Boutet 

Monvel 48.83 

♦Burnett,  Frances  Eliza  Hodgson 48.76 

♦Godiva 48.65 

tBashkirtseff,  Maria  Constantinova 48.57 

tYonge,  Charlotte  Mary 48.33 

*Piozzi,  Esther  Lynch  Salusbury 48.32 

*Adam,  Juhette  (Juliette  Lamber) 48.31 

Sophia  Alexievna 48.20 

♦Charriere,  Agnes  Isabelle  Emilie  de  Twyll 

van  Seeros  Kerken  van  Zuylen 48.16 

♦Lamballe,     Maria    Th^r^se     Louise    de 

Savoie-Carignan 47.73 

*Avellaneda,  Gertrudis  Gomez  de 47.66 

♦Kovalevsky,  Sophie  Corvin-Krukowsky  .  . .  47.63 

♦Trollope,  Frances  Milton 47.55 

♦Rambouillet,  Catherine  de  Vivonne 47.53 

♦Angouleme,  Marie  Th^r^se  Charlotte 47.49 

*Gyp   (Sibylle  Gabrielle  de  Riquette  de 

Mirabeau) 47.42 

tTinne,  Alexandrine  Petronella  Francina.  .  .  47.41 

tBlackwell,  EHzabeth 47.37 

♦Wood,  Ellen  Price  (Mrs.  Henry  Wood) 47.15 

♦Lucca,  Pauline 47.14 

♦Diana  of  France 47.10 

♦Bernauer,  Agnes 46.93 

♦Marie  Christine  de  Bourbon  of  Spain 46.90 

♦Besant,  Annie  Wood 46.79 

Sorel,  Agnes 46.75 

♦Etampes,  Anne  de  Pisseleu  D'Heilly 46.57 

tSedgwick,  Catherine  Maria 45.97 

♦Caroline  of  Denmark 45.88 

tLazarus,  Emma 45.79 

♦Laroche,  Marie  Sophie 45.64 

♦Nilsson,  Christine 45.49 

Clairon,  Claire  Josephe  Leyris  de  la  Tude.  45.41 
♦Gay,  Marie  Frangoise  Sophie  Nichault  de 

Lavalette 45.02 

fBourignon,  Antoinette 45.01 

♦Athenais  (Eudocia) 44.91 

♦Margaret  of  Austria 44.90 

tRossetti,  Christina  Georgina 44.82 


10 


No. 
256 
257 
258 
259 
260 
261 
262 
263 
264 
265 


267 


270 
271 
272 
273 
275 

276 
277 

278 
279 
280 
281 


284 
285 


287 


290 
291 
292 
293 
294 
295 
296 
297 
298 
299 
300 
301 
302 
303 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 

Date  Name                                              Lines 

1750-1848  tHerschel,  Caroline  Lucretia 44.70 

1755-1842  *Lebrun,  Marie  Louise  Elizabeth  Vig^e 44.46 

1859-  *Natalie  of  Servia 44.31 

316  B.C.-  *Arsinoe 44.22 

1793-1880  *Mott,  Lucretia  Coffin 44.09 

15  -    48  *Messalina  Valeria 44.07 

1832-1904  *Bishop,  Isabella  Bird 44.07 

1307-1348  *Noves,  Laura  de 44.07 

1829-1889  fBridgman,  Laura  Dewey 44.06 

1785-1859  *Desbordes-Valmore,     Marceline    Felicite 

Josephe 43.79 

1822-  *Linton,  Eliza  Lynn 43.79 

1752-1813  jBrion,  Friederike  Elizabeth 43.78 

1718-1746  *Anne  of  Russia 43.76 

1738-1804  *Bekker,  Elizabeth 43.63 

-510  B.C.  *Lucretia 43.54 

16  -    60  *Agrippina  II 43.52 

1808-1871  *Belgiojoso,  Cristina  Trivulzio 43.50 

1793-1867  *Austin,  Sarah  Taylor 43.49 

1754-1833  *Recke,    Ehzabeth   Charlotte   Constantia 

vonder 42.90 

1810-1876  *Colet,  Louise  R6voil 42.88 

1826-1887  *Craik,  Dinah  Muloch  (Mrs.  George  Lillie 

Craik) 42.84 

1807-1878  *Bauer,  Karoline 42.80 

1821-1912  tBarton,  Clara 42.80 

1739-  *Necker,  Susanne  Curchod 42.48 

1512-1548  *Parr,  Catherine 42.43 

1692-1766  *EUzabeth  Farnese  of  Spain 42.38 

1850-  *Gautier,  Judith 42.09 

1798-1875  *Dejazet,  Pauline  Vu-ginia 41.95 

39  B.C.-14  A.D.        *Julia 41.66 

1753-1824  *Albany,  Louise  Marie  Caroline 41.66 

1457-1482  *Mary  of  Burgundy 41.60 

1811-1890  *Augusta  Marie  Luise  of  Germany 41.49 

1837-1897  *Seebach,  Marie 41.44 

1302-1373  *Bridget  or  Brigitte,  Saint 41.23 

58  B.C.-29  A.D.       *Livia  Drusilla 41.20 

1848-  *Terry,  Ellen  Alicia 41.05 

1782-1839  *Bonaparte,  Marie  Annunciata  Caroline ....   40.96 

931  -  999  *Adelaide  (Adelheid)  of  Germany 40.88 

1600-1679  *Chevreuse,  Marie  de  Rohan-Montbazon .  .  .  40.49 

1510-1575  *Ren6e  de  France 40.48 

1477-1514  *Anne  of  Brittany 40.44 

1800-1881  *Hall,  Anna  Marie  Fielding 40.40 

1769-1843  *Pichler,  Caroline  von  Griener 40.38 

1863-1903  t^yall,  Edna  (Ada  Ellen  Bayly) 40.37 

1831-1892  fEdwards,  Amelia  Blandford 40.34 

1557-1585  *Accoramboni,  Vittoria 40.17 

1799-1861  *Gore,  Catherine  Grace  Frances 40.14 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


11 


The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 

No.  Date  Name  Lines 

304  1786-1867  Georges,  Marguerite  Josephine  Weymar.  .  .  40.04 

305  1194-1253  fClara,  Saint 40.01 

306  8th  century  *Genevieve  of  Brabant,  Saint 39.98 

307  1816-1876  fCushman,  Charlotte  Saunders 39.67 

308  1880-  *Wilhelmina  I.  of  Holland 39.61 

309  1858-  *Maria  Christina  of  Spain 39.55 

310  1798-1865  *Pasta,  Guiditta  Nigri 39.43 

311  1176-1236  *Ingeburga  of  France 39.41 

312  1820-1906  jAnthony,  Susan  Brownell 39.35 

313  1720-1800  *Montagu,  Elizabeth  Robinson 39.34 

314  1479-1555  *Joan  of  Castile 39.32 

315  1802-1887  fDix,  Dorothea  Lynde 39.21 

316  1798-1870  *Berry,  Marie  Caroline  Ferdinande  Louise 

de  Naples 39.20 

317  1797-1870  *Robinson,  Theresa  Albertine  Louise  von 

Jakob 39.15 

318  1773-1856  *Gyllembourg-Ehrensvard,    Thomasine 

Christine 39.15 

319  1823-1899  *Polko,  Elise  Vogel 38.99 

320  1781-1868  *Schr6der,  Sophie 38.83 

321  1770-1807  *Cottin,  Marie  Sophie  Ristaud 38.81 

322  1848-  Lange,  Helene 38.66 

323  1638-1705  *Catharine  of  Braganza 38.65 

324  1819-1895  *Otto-Peters,  Louise 38.40 

325  1852-  *Kremnitz,  Marie  or  Mita 38.37 

326  1854-  Kirschner,  Lola  (Ossip  Schubin) 38.25 

327  1821-1899  *Schwartz,   Marie  Esperance  von   (Elpis 

Melaena) 38.19 

328  1572-1641  *Chantal,  Jeanne  Frangoise  Fremiot 38.14 

329  1021-1096  *Eudocia  MacremboUtissa 38.07 

330  1763-1847  *Wolzogen  von,  Karoline  Lengsfeld 38.06 

331  1722-1791  *Karsch  or  Karschin,  Anna  Louise  Durbach.  37.91 

332  1864-  Grazie,  Marie  Eugenie  delle 37.91 

333  1083-1148  *Anna  Comnena 37.89 

334  1845-1907  *Junghaus,  Sophie 37.72 

335  1813-1890  *Ackermann,  Louise  Victorine  Choquet  ....  37.65 

336  1837-  *Ritchie,  Anna  Isabella 37.65 

337  1720-1782  *Louise  Ulrike  of  Sweden 37.55 

338  1709-1758  *Wilhelmina  Sophie  Friederika 37.45 

339  1749-1833  *Mara,  Gertrude  Elizabeth  Schmelling 37.36 

340  610  -  587  *Radegunde 37.21 

341  1752-1814  *Caroline  Maria  of  Naples 37.07 

342  1750-1836  *Bonaparte,  Letitia  Ramolino 36.87 

343  1802-1852  *Coleridge,  Sara  Henry 36.83 

344  1746-1793  *Du  Barry,  Marie  Jeanne  Becu 36.78 

345  1756-1837  *Fitzherbert,  Maria 36.77 

346  1836-  *Hillern,  Wilhelmine  von 36.72 

347  1765-1835  *Brun,  Friederike  Sophie  Christiane 36.63 

348  1521-1546  *Askew,  Anne 36.57 

349  1739-1807  *Amalia  Anna 36.55 


12 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 


The 


No. 

Date 

350 

1830-1908 

351 

1540-1592 

352 

1817-1893 

353 

1525-1566 

354 

1454-1510 

355 

1754-1820 

356 

1098-1179 

357 

1849- 

358 

1799-1888 

359 

1840-1901 

360 

1769-1853 

361 

1741-1804 

362 

-310  B.C. 

363 

1672-1724 

364 

1824-1877 

365 

1840-1894 

366 

-40  B.C. 

367 

1638-1683 

368 

1823-1894 

369 

1842-1910 

370 

1717-1806 

371 

1738-1791 

372 

1515-1557 

373 

1870- 

374 

1718-1763 

375 

1825-1891 

376 

255  -  275 

377 

1797-1858 

378 

-33  A.D. 

379 

1794-1870 

380 

1764-1829 

381 

1401-1437 

382 

1750-1814 

883 

1489-1541 

384 

1818-1893 

385 

1790-1883 

386 

1867-1906 

387 

1847- 

388 

1830-1890 

389 

1647-1690 

390 

-  237 

391 

1797-1851 

392 

1860- 

393 

1045-1093 

394 

1804-1884 

395 

1454- 

396 

1860- 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

fHosmer,  Harriet 36.45 

*Eboli,  Ana  de  Mendoza 36.35 

Francois,  Louise  von 36.23 

*Lab6,    Louise   Charlin   Perrin   La   Belle 

CordiSre 36.20 

*Cornaro,  Caterina 36.20 

*Lichtenau,  Wilhelmine  Enke 36.11 

Hildcgarde,  Saint 36.10 

tKey,  Ellen 36.02 

♦Howitt,  Mary  Botham 35.82 

*Victoria  Louise  of  Germany 35.81 

*Opie,  Amelia  Alderson 35.80 

Deken,  Agatha '. 35.77 

*Roxana 35.71 

*Manley,  Mary  de  la  Riviere 35.49 

*Kavanagh,  Julia 35.41 

♦Webster,  Augusta  Davies  (Cecil  Home) .  .  .   35.38 

*Fulvia 35.08 

*Marie  Therese  of  France 34.83 

*Alboni,  Marietta 34.80 

*Orzeszko,  Eliza  Pawlowska  von 34.66 

tCarter,  Elizabeth 34.54 

*Buchan,  Elspeth  Simpson 34.43 

*Anne  of  Cleves 34.41 

*Negri,  Ada  (Mme.  Garlanda) 34.40 

*Nordenflycht,  Hedwige  Charlotte 34.22 

Dincklage-Campe,    Amalie   von    (Emmy 

von) 34.16 

tMargaret,  Saint 34.05 

*Pfeiifer,  Ida  Reyer 33.86 

*Agrippina  1 33.83 

fAmalie,  Duchess  of  Saxony 33.79 

*Huber,  Therese 33.74 

♦Catherine  of  Valois 33.70 

fSouthcott,  Joanna 33.65 

♦Margaret  Tudor  of  Scotland 33.65 

♦Stone,  Lucy  Blackwell 33.57 

♦Bray,  Anna  EHza  Kempe 33.41 

♦Craigie,  Pearl  Mary  T.  Richards 33.39 

♦Skram,  Bertha  Amalia  Alver 33.32 

♦Audouard,  Felicit6  Olympe  de  Jouval 33.30 

tAlacoque,  Marguerite  Marie 33.25 

jBarbara,  Saint 33.15 

♦Shelley,  Mary 33.08 

♦Schreiner,  Ohve 33.05 

♦Margaret,  Saint  of  Scotland 32.98 

♦Taglioni,  Marie 32.76 

♦Hachettc,  Jeanne  Fourquet 32.54 

tMurfree,  Mary  Noailles  (Chas.  E.  Crad- 

dock) 32.51 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


13 


The 


No. 

Date 

397 

1813-1894 

398 

1819-1896 

399 

1552-1596 

400 

399  -  453 

401 

1818-1889 

402 

1644-1698 

403 

332  -  387 

404 

1818-1885 

405 

1715-1797 

406 

1839-1898 

407 

1844-1911 

408 

1843-1909 

409 

1804-1872 

410 

1717-1744 

411 

1820-1849 

412 

1753-1794 

413 

-  938 

414 

1809-1898 

415 

1814-1884 

416 

1780-1825 

417 

1757-1851 

418 

1811-1869 

419 

1820-1871 

420 

1860- 

421 

1640-1723 

422 

4th  cent.  B.C. 

423 

-1043 

424 

1840- 

425 

1772-1843 

426 

1694-1733 

427 

1816-1847 

428 

1802-1876 

429 

1773- 

430 

1873- 

431 

1771-1833 

432 

1520-1542 

433 

1798-1845 

434 

-1527 

435 

1318-1369 

436 

1846- 

437 

1625-1661 

438 

1770-1849 

439 

6th  cent.  B.C. 

440 

1849-1909 

441 

1750-1824 

442 

1825-1906 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

♦Gasparin,  Val6rie  Boissier 32.49 

♦Schumann,  Klara  Josephine  Wieck 32.48 

*Montpensier,   Catharine   Marie  de  Lor- 
raine de 32.46 

♦Pulcheria 32.39 

tMitchell,  Maria 32.36 

*Champmesl6,  Marie  Desmares  de 32.32 

*MoAica,  Saint 32.27 

tWarner,  Susan  (Elizabeth  WethereU) 32.21 

♦Elizabeth  Christine  of  Prussia 32.13 

tWillard,  Frances  Elizabeth 31.91 

*Phelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart  (Mrs.  Ward) 31.87 

*Modjeska,  Helene  Opido 31.85 

*Dash,  Gabrielle  Anne  Cisterne  de  Courtiras .  31.74 
*Chateauvoux,    Marie    Anne    de    Mailly- 

Nesle 31.72 

tBronte,  Anne  (Acton  BeU) 31.68 

*Wheatley,  Phyllis 31.65 

*Marozia 31.54 

*Clarke,  Mary  Cowden 31.49 

*Colban,  Adolphine  Marie  Schmidt 31.28 

♦Bonaparte,  Marie  Pauline  or  Carlotta 31.24 

tLee,  Harriet 31.13 

♦Grisi,  Giulia  (Madame  Melcy) 31.01 

tCary,  Alice 30.93 

♦Grand,  Sarah  Frances  EUzabeth  Clarke  .  .  .   30.77 

fAlcaforado,  Marianna 30.68 

♦Artemisia 30.68 

♦Gisela  of  Hungary 30.67 

fBroughton,  Rhoda 30.60 

Lenormand,  Marie  Anne  Adelaide 30.50 

Aisse,  Mademoiselle 30.44 

Aguilar,  Grace 30.43 

♦Crowe,  Catherine  Stevens 30.34 

♦Guizot,  Elizabeth  Charlotte  Pauline  de 

Meulan 30.26 

♦Deledda,  Grazia 30.08 

♦Varnhagen    von    Ense,    Rahel    Antonie 

Friederike  Levin 30.08 

♦Howard,  Catharine 30.07 

♦Hoffmann,  Clementina  Tanska 30.06 

♦Shore,  Jane 30.06 

♦Margaret  Maultasch 30.00 

fZimmern,  Helen 29.99 

tPascal,  Jacqueline 29.97 

♦Schopenhauer,  Johanna  Trosiener 29.93 

Corinna  or  Corinne 29.70 

tJewett,  Sarah  Orne 29.68 

tLee,  Sophie. 29.67 

Glumer,  Claire  von 29.58 


14 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.                Date  Name 

443  1776-1831  *Helvig,  Amalie  von 

444  183(>-1904  *Janauschek,  Francesca  Madelina  Romance 

(Fanny) 

445  1782-1824  Marie  Louise  Josephine  de  Bourbon 

446  1650-1705  *Aulnoy,    Marie  Catherine  Le  Jumel  de 

Barneville  de  la  Motte 

447  422  -  463  *Eudoxia  Licinia 

448  1818-1848  fBronte,  Emily  Jane  (Ellis  Bell) 

449  1768-1818  ♦Billington,  Elizabeth  Weichsel 

450  -    65  *Poppaea  Sabina 

451  1860-1885  Biilow,  Margarete  von 

452  978  -1050  *Zoe  II 

453  1798-1876  Hensel,  Louise 

454  1850-1911  *Judic,  Anna  Damiens 

455  1639-1715  *Mancini,  Maria 

456  1688-1744  *Ulrica  of  Sweden 

457  5th  cent.  B.C.  *Xanthippe 

458  1858-  tLagerlof ,  Selma 

459  1652-1734  Keroualle,  Louise  Penhoet 

460  1526-1555  *Morata,  Olympia  Fulvia 

461  1816-  tBrowne,  Frances 

462  1783-1856  *Chezy,  Wilhelmine  Christine  von  Klenck .  . 

463  1832-  *Gagneur,  Louise  Mignerot 

464  1713-1762  *Gottsched,  Luise  Adelgunde  Victorie  Cul- 

mus 

465  1777-1835  Duchesnois,  Catherine  Josephine  Rafin ...  . 

466  7th  cent.  B.C.  fErinna 

467  1861-  *Hading,  Jane  Alfredine  Trefouret 

468  1805-1848  Gu6rin,  Eugenie  de 

469  1811-1859  fBacon,  Delia  Salter 

470  810-867  *Theodora 

471  1858-  *Sembrich,    Marcella    (Paxede   Marzelline 

Kochanska) 

472  1651-1695  Cruz,  Juana  Ines  de  la 

473  1744-1803  Arnould,  Sophie 

474  1795-1840  *Feuch^res,  Sophie  Dawes .  . 

475  390  -  450             *Placidia  Galea ... 

476  1810-1884  fElssler,  Fanny 

477  1834-1897  *Wolter,  Charlotte 

478  1858-  *Auguste  Viktoria  of  Germany 

479  1780-1806  tGiinderode,  Caroline  von 

480  1799-1870  tCostello,  Louisa  Stuart 

481  1856-  Paget,  Violet  (Vernon  Lee) 

482  291  -  304  fAgnes,  Saint 

483  1814-1894  Gluck,  Barbara  Elizabeth  (Betty  Paoh) .  .  . 

484  1782-1854  jFerrier,  Susan  Edmonstone 

485  1707-1791  *Huntingdon,  SeUna  Hastings  Shirley 

486  42    -    62  ♦Octavia 

487  1777-1820  ♦Bonaparte,  Marianne  Elisha 

488  1857-  *Wiggin,  Kate  Douglas 


No.  of 
Lines 
29.58 

29.56 
29.47 

29.43 
29.41 
29.37 
29.34 
29.34 
29.29 
29.07 
29.06 
29.02 
28.97 
28.91 
28.90 
28.78 
28.76 
28.75 
28.74 
28.74 
28.74 

28.74 
28.64 
28.59 
28.55 
28.53 
28.44 
28.18 

28.09 
28.07 
28.07 
28.06 
27  9C 
27.98 
27.97 
27.95 
27.91 
27.91 
27.85 
27.77 
27.76 
27.69 
27.52 
27.51 
27.50 
27.49 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


15 


No. 


489 

1823- 

490 

1819-1894 

491 

1797-1849 

492 

1806-1874 

493 

1491-1517 

494 

475  -  544 

495 

1221-1295 

496 

1835-1907 

497 

1780-1821 

498 

1272-1305 

499 

1776-1850 

500 

1711-1803 

501 

1828-1898 

502 

1727-1772 

503 

13th  century 

504 

1683-1730 

505 

1809-1873 

506 

1647-1717 

507 

452  -  523 

508 

1718-1799 

509 

1552-1614 

510 

1730-1813 

511 

1722-1790 

512 

1814-1873 

513 

1764-1847 

514 

1814-1858 

515 

1860- 

516 

1650-1690 

517 

1646-1699 

518 

1823- 

519 

170  -  217 

520 

1820-1904 

521 

1788-1879 

522 

1850- 

523 

1800-1878 

524 

1847- 

525 

1831-1895 

526 

1661-1681 

527 

1642- 

528 

1791-1865 

529 

1838- 

530 

1599-1655 

531 

5th  cent.  B.C. 

532 

1838-1896 

533 

1843-1878 

534 

1802-1839 

535 

1710-1802 

536 

-  680 

The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Date  Name  Lines 

*Cerito,  Francesca  (Fanny) 27.24 

♦Schwartz,  Marie  Sophie  Bu-ath 27.22 

tLyon,  Mary  Mason 27.16 

tStrickland,  Agnes 27.13 

Dyveke 27.12 

♦Clotilda,  Saint 27.06 

♦Margaret  of  Provence 26.93 

♦Artot,  Marguerite  Josephine  Desiree 26.80 

♦Remusat,  Claire  Elizabeth  Jeanne 26.67 

*Joan  of  France 26.63 

tPorter,  Jane 26.55 

Dumesnil,  Marie  Frangoise  Marchand 26.47 

♦Codemo,  Luigia 26.42 

*Favart,  Marie  Justine  Benoite  Duronceray.  26.35 
♦Agnes,  Duchess  of  Meran 26.28 

Oldfield,  Anne 26.24 

♦Gatty,  Margaret  Scott 26.21 

♦Merian,  Maria  Sibylla 26.10 

tBridget  or  Brigid,  Saint 26.08 

tAgnesi,  Maria  Gaetana 26.03 

♦Fontana,  Livinia 26.02 

♦Houdetot,  Elizabeth  Fran^oise  Sophie  de 

la  Live  de  Bellegarde . 26.00 

♦Macdonald,  Flora 25.89 

♦Mundt,  Klara  Miiller  (Louise  Muhlbach).   25.83 

♦Herz,  Henriette ^ 25.83 

♦Orleans,  Helene  Louise  Elizabeth — Duchessd'  25.73 
♦Cohn,  Klara  Viebig 25.70 

Gwynn,  Eleanor 25.69 

♦Mancini,  Hortensia 25.65 

♦Coronado,  Caroline 25.56 

♦Julia  Domna 25.49 

♦Bonaparte,  Matilde  Letitia  Wilhelmine.  .  .  .  25.48 

♦Hale,  Sarah  Josepha  Buell 25.41 

tBehrens,  Bertha 25.41 

fBeecher,  Catharine  Esther 25.27 

♦Albani,  Madame  (Marie  Emma  Lajeunesse)        25 
♦Craik,  Georgina  M 25.22 

Fontanges,  Marie  Angehque  de  ScovaUle .  .   25.21 

♦Mancini,  Olympia 25.21 

♦Sigourney,  Lydia  Huntley 25.19 

tHill,  Octavia 25.15 

♦Maria  Eleanora  of  Brandenburg 25.05 

♦Artemisia 25.02 

tDodge,  Mary  Abigail  (Gail  Hamilton) 24.99 

♦Alice    Maud    Mary — Grand    duchess    of 

Hesse-Darmstadt 24.99 

♦Landon,  Letitia  EUzabeth 24.96 

♦Boccage,  Marie  Anne  Le  Page 24.94 

♦Bathilda,  Saint 24.90 


16 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No. 

No.  Date  Name                                                 Lines 

537  -1430  tEyck,  Margaret  van 24.89 

538  1812-1886  *Bosboom,  Anne  Louisa  Gertruda  Tous- 

Baint 24.89 

539  1754-1817  *Lenngren,  Anna  Maria  Malmstedt 24.89 

540  -1040  *Cunegonde  or  Kunigunde,  Saint 24.83 

541  1535-1626  *Anguisciola,  Sophonisbe 24.74 

542  1818-1889  Cook,  Eliza 24.70 

543  -449  B.C.  fVirginia 24.63 

544  1836-1876  Bauer,  Klara  (Karl  Detlef) 24.57 

545  1849-  Villinger,  Hermine 24.53 

546  1785-1828  *Lamb,  Lady  Caroline 24.44 

547  1860-  *Butze,  Nuscha  Beermann 24.36 

548  -1201  *Agnes  of  Meran 24.36 

549  1833-1908  *Favart,  Marie  (Pierette  Ignace  Pingaud) .  .   24.36 

550  1821-1905  *Livermore,  Mary  Ashton  Rice 24.32 

551  1808-1891  *Craven,  Pauline  Marie  Armande  Agla6 24.21 

552  1805-1877  Bertin,  Louise  Angelique 24.20 

553  -  843  *Judith 24.17 

554  1813-1839  *Marie  Christine  de  Valois— Duchess  of 

Wiirtemberg 24.15 

555  235  B.C.-203  *Sophonisba 24.09 

556  1840-1907  *Bentzon,  Th6rese  de  Solms 24.09 

557  1868-  *Parlaghy,  Vehna  Brachfeld  de 23.98 

558  1842-  fDickinson,  Anna  EUzabeth 23.94 

559  1775-1861  *Bury,  Lady  Charlotte  Susanne  Maria 23.90 

560  1770-1836  *Albrizzi,  Isabelle  Teotoki 23.89 

561  -  535  *Amalsuntha 23.88 

562  1859-  Reuter,  Gabriele 23.83 

563  1586-1617  fRosa,  Saint  (Saint  Rose  of  Lima) 23.78 

564  1496-1533  *Mary  of  France 23.76 

565  1612-1672  *Bradstreet,  Anne 23.74 

566  1834-1876  *Fua-Fusinato,  Erminia 23.74 

567  1855-1897  *Hungerford,  Margaret  Wolfe  Hamilton 23.74 

568  1864-  *Calv6,  Emma  (Emma  de  Roquer) 23.69 

569  1805-1881  *Hatzfeldt,  Sophie 23.50 

570  1405-1480  *Surville,  Marguerite  E16anore  Clotilde  de 

Vallon-Chalis 23.46 

571  1880-  tKeller,  Helen  Adama 23.42 

572  4th  cent.  B.C.         *Thais 23.34 

573  1865-  *Melba,  Nellie  (Nellie  Porter  Armstrong 

Mitchell) 23.22 

574  1815-1864  *Farnham,  Eliza  Woodson 23.17 

575  1776-1831  Germain,  Sophie 23.08 

576  1767-1834  *Candeille,  Am61ic  Julie 22.86 

577  532  -  568  *Galsuintha 22.84 

578  1869-  *Guilbert,  Yvette 22.81 

579  1751-1819  *Marie  de  Parme  of  Spain 22.77 

580  1314-1369  *Philippa  of  Hainault 22.76 

581  1777-1822  fBrachmann,  Luise  Kavoline 22.73 

582  105  -  175  *Faustina,  Annia 22.72 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


17 


The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 

No.                Date  Name  Lines 

583  1840-  fCarey,  Rosa  Nouchette 22.53 

584  1804-1872  *Gleichen-Russwurm,  Emilie  von 22.49 

585  1738-1813  *Beauharnais,  Marie  Anne  Frangoise  Mou- 

chard  (Fanny) 22.44 

586  1783-1823  jTaylor,  Jane 22.38 

587  1669-1731  *Eudoxia  Lopukhina  of  Russia 22.37 

588  1855-  tMataja,  Emilie  (Emil  Marriot) 22.34 

589  1806-1868  *Burow,  Julie 22.22 

590  1808-1862  fPardoe,  Julia 22.20 

591  1766-1815  *Bechmann,  Friederike  Augusta  Konradine.  22.08 

592  1823-1904  *Lippincott,  Sarah  Jane  Clarke 22.08 

593  1858-  *Emma  of  Holland 22.08 

594  1763-1809  *Schelling,  Karoline 22.06 

595  1700-1772  *Cuzzoni,  Francesca 21.96 

596  1850-  *Bulow,  Babette  Eberty  von  (Hans  Arnold) .   21.83 

597  1545-1568  *Elizabeth  of  Valois 21.74 

598  -837  Emma 21.71 

599  1174-1243  *Hedwig,  Saint 21.71 

600  1753-1828  *Buff,  Charlotte 21.67 

601  1831-1877  Tietjens,  Th^rSse  Johanne  Alexandra 21.64 

602  1736-1784  *Lee,  Ann 21.63 

603  1782-1866  *Marie  Amelie  Th^re.se  de  Bourbon 21.60 

604  1773-1841  *Boivin,  Marie  Anne  Victoire  Gillain 21.50 

605  1782-1857  *Swetchine,  Anne  Sophie  Soymonoff 21.45 

606  1828-1901  fOrmerod,  Eleanor  Anne 21.43 

607  -1825  *Bobolina 21.37 

608  1631-1664  *Philips,  Katharine  Fowler 21.31 

609  1602-1665  fAgreda,  Mari^  Fernandez  Coronel 21.30 

610  1723-1774  Klettenberg,  Susanne  Catharine 21.25 

611  1371-1399  *Hedwig  of  Poland 21.19 

612  -  625  *Theodelinda 21.15 

613  -  310  fDorothea,  Saint 21.13 

614  1835-1908  *Moulton,  Louise  Chandler 21.11 

615  1832-1878  fPattison,  Dorothy  Wyndlow  (Sister  Dora) .   20.97 

616  1856-  *Chaminade,  Cecile  Louise  Stephanie 20.89 

617  1847-  *Materna,  Amalie  (Mrs.  Friedrich  Materna) .  20.86 

618  1621-1689  *Motteville,  Frangoise  Bertaut  de 20.68 

619  1820-1862  *Nemcova,  Bozena  (Barbara  Pankl) 20.56 

620  1835-1895  fFaithfull,  Emily 20.53 

621  1658-1718  *Mary  of  Modena 20.52 

622  -1176  Rosamond  (The  Fair) 20.49 

623  1875-  *Despres,  Suzanne 20.49 

624  1623-1704  *Leade,  Jane 20.48 

625  1747-1809  fSeward,  Anna 20.47 

626  1810-1858  *Kmkel,  Johanna 20.41 

627  1844-1901  *Breden,  Christiane  (Ada  Christen) 20.40 

628  -    42  *Arria 20.38 

629  1766-1845  *Nairne,  Carolina 20.26 

630  1836-1894  *Thaxter,  Celia  Laighton 20.20 


20 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


The 


No. 

Date 

729 

1737-1805 

730 

1846-1880 

731 

1824-1871 

732 

1761-1836 

733 

1814-1882 

734 

1781-1832 

735 

1591-1661 

736 

1636-1693 

737 

1839-1887 

738 

1806-1831 

739 

-1211 

740 

1830-1902 

741 

1805-1879 

742 

1675-1757 

743 

1786-1861 

744 

1818- 

745 

1616-1665 

746 

1870- 

747 

1842-1907 

748 

1866- 

749 

1646-1684 

750 

1842- 

751 

1762-1852 

752 

1798-1879 

753 

1827-1892 

754 

1855-1896 

755 

1668-1731 

756 

1574-1631 

757 

1820-1891 

758 

1532-1560 

759 

1792-1873 

760 

1826- 

761 

480  B.C.- 

762 

1852- 

763 

1849- 

764 

1718-1760 

765 

1814-1884 

766 

1700-1788 

767 

1808-1825 

768 

1813-1894 

769 

1850- 

770 

1665-1746 

771 

1859- 

772 

1804-1852 

773 

1818-1875 

774 

1772-1810 

775 

1813-1883 

776 

1842- 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

*Montesson,  Charlotte  Jeanne  Bdrand  de 

la  Haye  de  Rion 16.20 

*Nielson,  Lilian  Adelaide  (Eliza  Ann  Brown) .   16.20 

tCarj^  Phoebe 16.13 

*Kemble,  Elizabeth  Whitlock 16.08 

♦Celeste,  Madame 16.07 

tPorter,  Anna  Maria 16.06 

fArnauld,    Marie    Ang^lique    de    Sainte- 

Madeleine 15.89 

*La  Sabhere,  Marguerite  de 15.82 

*Brassey,  Lady  Annie  Allnut 15.77 

Plater,"  EmiUe 15.68 

*EuphrosjTie 15.49 

*Rattazzi,  Marie  Studolmine 15.45 

♦Grimke,  Angelina  Emily  Weld 15.42 

Carriera,  Rosalba 15.41 

*Kent,  Maria  Louisa  Victoria — Duchess  of . .   15.40 

*Eastman,  Marie  Henderson 15.34 

La  Fayette,  Louise  de 15.33 

*Marlowe,  Julia  (Sarah  Frances  Frost) 15.32 

tClerke,  Agnes  Mary 15.29 

Vacaresco,  Helene 15.28 

tCornaro-Piscopia,  Elena  Lucrezia 15.21 

*Kellogg,  Clara  Louise 15.17 

tBerry,  Mary 15.14 

*BissLng,  Henriette  Krohn  von 14.99 

*Cooke,  Rose  Terry 14.99 

*mafsky,  Katharina 14.99 

*Astell,  Mary 14.89 

*Conti,  Louise  Marguerite  de  Lorraine 14.84 

*Botta,  Anne  Charlotte  Lynch 14.83 

*Robsart,  Amy  (Lady  Amy  Dudley) 14.83 

tGrimke,  Sarah  Moore 14.82 

*Alberti,  Sophie  Moedinger 14.81 

Lais 14.69 

♦Langtry,  Lillie 14.64 

♦Morris,  Clara 14.60 

Woffington,  Margaret 14.59 

*Bishop,  Anna  Riviere 14.53 

*Delany,  Mary  Granville 14.52 

Kulmann,  Elizabeth 14.51 

tCooper,  Susan  Fennimore 14.49 

*Meynell,  Alice  Christiana  Thompson 14.48 

♦Baillie,  Lady  Grizcl 14.48 

*Nordica,  Lillian  (Lillian  Norton) 14.46 

*Lutzow,  Thcrese  von  Struve 14.40 

*Amalia  of  Greece 14.40 

♦Tighe,  Mary 14.34 

*Gascoigno,  CaroUne  Leigh  Smith 14.16 

Brandt,  Marianne  (Marie  Bischof) 14.15 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY 


21 


The 


No. 

Date 

777 

1743-1809 

778 

422  B.C.- 

779 

1750-1825 

780 

1624-1684 

781 

1860- 

782 

1798-1853 

783 

1380-1446 

784 

1833-1900 

785 

1524-1554 

786 

614  -  680 

787 

1604-1675 

788 

-42  B.C. 

789 

1580-1651 

790 

1820-1897 

791 

1808-1825 

792 

1777-1847 

793 

-208  B.C. 

794 

1818- 

795 

281  -  303 

796 

1816-1879 

797 

-1057 

798 

1849-1891 

799 

1812-1890 

800 

1687-1757 

801 

1711-1778 

802 

4th  cent.  B.C. 

803 

1601-1693 

804 

1842- 

805 

1794-1859 

806 

1st  century 

807 

1846- 

808 

1335-1381 

809 

6th  cent.  B.C. 

810 

1714-1768 

811 

1842- 

812 

1829-1859 

813 

1847- 

814 

1815-1906 

815 

-  927 

816 

-35  A.D. 

817 

1781-1848 

818 

-1302 

819 

1745-1789 

820 

1725-1803 

821 

1804-1871 

822 

1842- 

823 

5th  cent.  B.C. 

List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 
Name  Lines 

*Cowley,  Hannah  Parkhouse 14.11 

Lais 14.05 

*Barnard,  Lady  Anne 13.91 

'Arnauld,  Ang^Uque  (Ang^Uque  de  Saint 

Jean) 13.88 

fAddams,  Jane 13.84 

*Foa,  Eugenie  Gradis 13.81 

Colette,  Saint 13.79 

*Brohan,  Emelie  Madeleine 13.70 

tStampa,  Gaspara  (Anasilla) 13.67 

tHilda,  Saint ...    13.64 

*Aiguillon,  Marie  Madeleine  de  Wignerot. .  .   13.63 

*Porcia 13.59 

*Essarts,  Charlotte  des 13.55 

*Drew,  Louisa  Lane 13.54 

fDavidson,  Lucretia  Marie 13.48 

Adelaide  Eugene  Louise 13.48 

*Arsinoe 13.44 

Cosel,  Charlotte  von  (Adelheid  von  Auer) . .   13.14 

fLucia,  Saint 13.13 

*Kemble,  Adelaide  Sartoris 13.07 

Theodora 13.00 

*Abbott,  Emma 12.93 

*Heiberg,  Johanna  Louise  Patges 12.91 

*Sophia  Dorothea  of  Prussia 12.84 

*Bassi,  Laura  Maria  Catarina 12.82 

*Berenice 12.73 

Ceo,  Violante  do 12.53 

*Molesworth,  Mary  Louisa  Stewart 12.52 

tSieveking,  AmaUe  Wilhelmine 12.49 

*Zenobia 12.45 

*Dolgoruky,  Katharina  Michailowna  (Victor 

Laferte) 12.45 

*Catherine,  Saint  of  Sweden 12.39 

*Atossa 12.33 

tFielding,  Sarah 12.32 

*Bateman,  Kate  Josephine 12.29 

*Bosio,  Angiohna 12.22 

*Foote,  Mary  Hallock 12.17 

tSewell,  Elizabeth  Missing 11.99 

*Ludmilla,  Saint 11.92 

*Livia  Livilla 11.92 

*Ahlefeld,  Charlotte  Sophie  Luise  Wilhel- 
mine    11.90 

*Constance  of  Sicily 11.90 

*Brooke,  Frances  Moore 11.78 

tReeve,  Clara 11.63 

*Bonaparte,   Lsetitia 11.48 

*Cary,  Annie  Louise 11.27 

*Parysatis 11.20 


22 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


The  List  of  Eminent  Women — Continued 

No.  of 

No.  Date  Name                                               Lines 

824  1630-1693  OosteniNTck,  Maria  van 11.19 

825  1256-1311  Gertrude  d'Eisleben,  Saint 11.19 

826  1840-1889  *Patti,  Carlotta 11.14 

827  1522-1589  Catherine,  Saint  de  Ricci 11.09 

828  1816-1893  *Eastlake,  Lady  Elizabeth  Rigby 11.06 

829  -41  B.C.  Arsinoe 11.01 

830  1847-  *Steel,  Flora  Annie 10.97 

831  1610-1664  *Cunitz,  Maria 10.94 

832  -1124  *Irene,  Saint 10.90 

833  -  794  *Fastrada 10.78 

834  -1160  Rosalie,  Saint 10.78 

835  1708-1727  *Anna  Petrovna 10.64 

836  1844-  *Alexandra  of  England 10.47 

837  1st  cent.  A.D.         *Domitilla,  Saint  Flavia 10.40 

838  1851-  *Dieulafoy,  Jeanne  Paul  Rachel  Mayre 10.22 

839  1779-1826  *Elizabeth  of  Russia 10.22 

840  1759-1829  *Farren,  Elizabeth 10.06 

841  1820-  tWarner,  Anna  Bartlett  (Amy  Lothrop) 10.01 

842  -247  B.C.  *Berenice  II 9.65 

843  -55  B.C.  *Berenice 9.65 

844  1805-1840  *Grisi,  Giuditta 9.62 

845  1778-1818  *Brunton,  Mary  Balfour 9.60 

846  626  -  659  Gertrude,  Saint 9.59 

847  290  -  304  Eulalia,  Saint 9.47 

848  1808-1878  *Elssler,  Therese 9.40 

849  -  303  *Anastasia,  Saint 9.38 

850  1811-1875  *Pleyel,  Marie  Felicit6  Denise  Moke 9.35 

851  615-694  *Begga,  Saint 9.29 

852  1760-1813  *Contat,  Louise  Fran^oise 8.99 

853  1413-1463  fCatherine,  Saint  of  Bologna 8.93 

854  780-  Berthe 8.89 

855  1210-1292  *Cunegonde  or  Kunigonde,  Saint 8.68 

856  1818-  *Novello,  Clara 8.26 

857  1470-1540  fAngela  Merici 8.04 

858  289  -  304  fPelagia,  Saint 8.02 

859  1807-1828  *Bonaparte,  Jeanne 7.63 

860  1761-1806  *Brentano,  Sophie  Schubart 7.51 

861  6th  century  *Bertha  or  Edithberga,  Saint 7.49 

862  1823-1902  *Stoddard,  Elizabeth  Drew  Barstow 7.42 

863  7th  cent.  B.C.         *Tanaquil  (Gaia  Caecilia) 7.05 

864  5th  cent.  B.C.  Praxilla 6.17 

865  -  249  tApoUonia,  Saint 6.15 

866  1818-1874  *Bonaparte,  Alexandrine  Marie 5.31 

867  4th  cent.  B.C.  *Arsinoe 4.34 

868  1823-1876  Bonaparte,  Constance 3.23 

According  to  our  standard  of  measurement  Mary  Stuart  is  the 

most  eminent  woman  of  history.     She  has  no  close  competitor.     Her 

reputation,  however,  is  greatest  with  EngHsh-speaking  peoples,  as 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY  23 

is  shown  by  the  variation  in  the  amount  of  space  accorded  her  by 
the  different  encyclopedias  used.  After  these  lines  were  reduced 
to  a  common  standard,  the  result  was  202.83  lines  from  the  Britan- 
nica,  174.16  from  Lippincott,  97.91  from  Meyer,  61.25  from  Brock- 
haus,  37.36  from  La  Rousse,  and  34.16  from  the  Americana.  In 
other  words,  62  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  lines  devoted  to 
her  are  given  by  Lippincott  and  the  Britannica.  Queen  Victoria 
is  the  most  recent  of  the  preeminent  women  and  has  the  largest 
probable  error.  George  Sand  is  the  most  distinguished  literary 
woman,  and  her  probable  error  shows  that  the  chances  are 
even  that  her  position  as  fifth  in  order  of  merit  is  correctly 
determined.  The  most  eminent  woman  of  American  birth  is  Mrs. 
Stowe,  who  ranks  twentieth.  The  chances  are  even  that,  had 
additional  or  different  encyclopedias  been  used  in  compihng  the 
list,  her  position  would  be  between  17  and  21. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  had  other  sources  been  used  in 
selecting  the  eminent  women,  the  position  of  certain  ones  might 
have  been  shifted  more  or  less.  However,  as  we  glance  at  the 
names  of  the  women  who  are  ranked  in  this  list  as  the  most  eminent, 
we  must  concede  they  are  the  ones  most  familiar  to  us  in  literature 
and  history,  and  they  unquestionably  deserve  their  position.  The 
twenty  preeminently  gifted  women  of  history  are  given  below  with 
the  mean  variation  and  probable  error. 

No.  of  Mean        Probable 

No_                       Name  Lines       Variation        Error 

I.Mary  Stuart 607.67  58.1  22.1 

2.  Jeanne  d' Arc 533.72  48.3  18.4 

3.  Victoria  of  England 533.34  62.5  23.8 

4.  Elizabeth  of  England 441.15  30.3  11.5 

5.  George  Sand 412.04  22.4  8.5 

6.  Madame  de  Stael 362.20  10.2  3.9 

7.  Catharine  II.  of  Russia 349.66  17.3  6.6 

8.  Maria  Theresa 269.06  19.7  7.5 

9.  Marie  Antoinette 224.99  9.3  3.5 

10.  Anne  of  England 210.67  23.6  9.0 

11.  Madame  de  Sevign^ 209.61  21.5  8.2 

12.  Mary  I.  of  England 195.87  15.3  5.8 

13.  George  Eliot 191-67  10.3  3.9 

14.  Christina  of  Sweden 190.65  9.2  3.5 

15.  Elizabeth  B.  Browning 183.73  17.9  6.8 

16.  Madame  de  Maintenon 182.33  9.4  3.6 

17.  Josephine  of  France 174.22  13.1  4.9 

18.  Catharine  de  Medici 170.09  9.6  3.6 

19.  Cleopatra 167.66  8.2  3.1 

20.  Harriet  B.  Stowe 167.40  16.8  6.4 

These  twenty  women  form  a  diverse  group.     They  represent 


24  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

six  centuries  and  nine  nationalities.  Cleopatra  is  the  most  dis- 
tinguished woman  of  the  pre-Christian  era.  As  far  as  preeminently 
gifted  women  are  concerned,  the  record  is  blank  from  the  first 
century  before  Christ  until  the  birth  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  in  1411.  Four 
of  the  twenty  most  eminent  women  belong  to  the  sixteenth  century, 
four  to  the  seventeenth,  five  to  the  eighteenth,  and  five  to  the 
nineteenth. 

Half  of  the  twenty  most  eminent  women  were  sovereigns,  one 
ruhng  as  a  regent,  the  others  in  their  own  right.  Six  became 
eminent  in  literature,  five  of  these  being  prose  writers,  and  Mrs. 
Browning  the  preeminent  poetess.  Marie  Antoinette,  the  un- 
fortunate queen  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  Josephine,  who  might  be  called 
both  the  fortunate  and  unfortunate  wife  of  Napoleon  I.,  owe  their 
positions  to  marriage.  Madame  de  Maintenon  is  noted  for  her 
pohtical  influence,  and  Jeanne  d'Arc  was  a  rehgious  enthusiast. 

France  and  England  each  produced  six  of  the  twenty  most 
eminent  women  of  history.  Austria,  Scotland,  Sweden,  Italy, 
Germany,  Russia,  Egypt  and  America  have  each  one  represen- 
tative. 

Jeanne  d'Arc  led  her  people  to  victory  at  Orleans,  won  a  place 
in  the  catalogue  of  the  saints,  and  was  burned  at  the  stake  at  twenty. 
Marie  Antoinette  at  thirty-eight,  and  Mary  Stuart  at  forty-five, 
were  sent  to  the  guillotine.  Cleopatra  committed  suicide  at  sixty- 
one,  and  Mrs.  Stowe  lived  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-five. 

A  list  of  this  sort  makes  possible  comparisons  which  are  not 
ordinarily  evident,  and  could  not  otherwise  be  made,  and  the 
known  probable  error  makes  it  possible  to  determine  within  what 
limits  the  comparisons  are  true.  Charlotte  Bronte  and  Charlotte 
Corday  seemingly  have  nothing  in  common,  yet  their  respective 
numbers  in  order  of  merit  are  21  and  22.  Marie  Brinvilliers,  whose 
mania  for  poisoning  makes  it  impossible  to  classify  her  as  anything 
but  a  criminal,  just  precedes  Genevieve,  the  patron  saint  of  Paris. 
Joanna  Baillie,  the  poet;  Mrs.  Siddons,  the  actress;  and  Beatrice 
Cenci,  whose  beauty  and  tragic  fate  have  been  preserved  for  us  in 
the  colors  of  Guido  Reni  and  in  the  lines  of  Shelley,  are  numbered 
89,  90  and  91  respectively. 

The  range  of  eminence  covered  by  these  868  women  is  wide. 
Mary  Stuart,  with  607.67  lines,  is  more  than  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  times  as  eminent  as  Constance  Bonaparte  with  3.23 
lines.  There  are  forty-nine  women  who  are  given  one  hundred  or 
more  lines  in  the  encyclopedias,  and  there  are  twenty-seven  that 
are  given  less  than  ten  lines.  The  average  number  of  lines  accorded 
is  43.2.     Table  I.  gives  the  distribution  in  detail. 


THE  EMINENT  WOMEN  OF  HISTORY  25 


>.  of  Lines 

-4.99.... 

TABLE 
No.  of  Cases 
2 

I 

No.  of  Lines 
110 

No.  of  C 

5-9.99 

25 

90 

117 

115 

4 

10 

120 

0 

15 

125 

20 

103 

130 

25 

96 

135 

o 

30 

69 

140 

(\ 

35 

61 

145 

40 

53 

150 

n 

45 

45 

40 

155 

1 

50 

160 

55 

29 

165 

o 

60 

16 

170 

o 

65 

12 

175 

70 

8 

180 

75 

15 

13 

185 

0 

80 

190 

o 

85 

13 

195 

90 

7 

200 

95 

5 

7 

205 

1 

100 

210-607.7 

10 

868 

105 

6 

Mode 17  50 

Median 3O.01 

Average 43,15 


RE. 


.14.68 


CHAPTER  II 

Distribution  of  Eminent  Women 

Distribution  of  Eminent  Women  Through  the  Centuries 

This  group  of  eminent  women  is  spread  over  a  long  period  of 
time.  From  the  seventh  century  before  Christ  to  the  nineteenth 
century  after  Christ  inclusive,  the  light  of  feminine  genius  has 
never  been  extinguished  though  sometimes  it  has  burned  but  dimly. 
Beginning  with  three  cases  in  the  seventh  century  before  Christ, 
we  observe  that  the  Golden  Age  of  Greece  records  a  rise  in  the  curve. 
Who  knows  but  that  her  women  were  potentially  as  great  as  her 


TABLE  II 

Century 

Cases 

Century 

Cases 

7  B  C 

3 

8  A.D 

5 

6 

3 

9 

6 

5 

8 

10 

6 

4 

8 

11 

9 

3 

4 

12 

12 

2 

1 

13 

10 

1 

10 

14 

17 

1  A.D 

11 

15 

32 

2 

4 

16 

45 

3 

14 

17 

84 

4 

6 

18 

19 

213 

5 

7 

335 

6 

8 

Total 

868 

7 

7 

men,  and  if  Plato's  theory  regarding  the  education  of  women  had 
been  universally  applied,  the  curve  might  not  have  risen  higher? 
In  the  second  century  before  Christ,  Corneha,  the  mother  of  the 
Gracchi,  is  the  sole  representative.  The  period  of  Roman  suprem- 
acy is  clearly  depicted,  as  is  also  that  of  the  religious  persecutions 
in  the  third  century,  eleven  of  the  fourteen  representatives  of  that 
century  being  martyrs.  Through  the  Dark  Ages  the  level  of  the 
curve  remains  almost  stationary.  There  is  a  little  rise  in  the 
twelfth  century,  but  a  subsequent  fall  in  the  thirteenth.  This, 
however,  is  insignificant  because  of  the  few  cases.  The  curve  rises 
considerably  in  the  fourteenth  century,  almost  doubles  its  height 
in  the  fifteenth,  and  does  not  drop  again.  The  eighteenth  century 
produced  213  cases  or  24.5  per  cent,  of  the  eminent  women  of 

26 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  27 

history.  We  must  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  records  for  the 
nineteenth  century  are  neither  complete  nor  accurate.  The 
youngest  woman  on  my  hst  was  born  in  1880,  therefore  one  fifth 
of  the  century  is  not  represented,  and  one  half  of  it  but  partially. 
AbiUty  in  woman  is  more  readily  and  willingly  recognized  at  the 
present  time  than  formerly,  and  names  of  women  whose  reputation 
for  eminence  may  not  prove  enduring  may  be  included  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  group.  On  the  other  hand,  the  eminence  of  a  large 
group  of  women  is  now  in  the  process  of  making  and  subsequent 
biographers  may  accord  them  a  more  important  place  than  their 
contemporaries.  While  the  figures  for  this  last  century  are  in  no 
respect  accurate,  they  are  in  many  respects  interesting.  The  cen- 
tury furnished  335  cases  or  38.5  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of 
eminent  women.  63  per  cent,  of  the  eminent  women  of  history 
were  born  in  the  last  two  centuries.  Two  factors  probably  cooperate 
to  produce  these  results;  modern  civilization  affords  women  greater 
opportunity  for  achieving  eminence,  and  feminine  ability  is  more 
readily  recognized  than  in  earlier  centuries. 

The  distribution  of  the  eminent  women  through  the  centuries 
is  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  1.  If  we  were  able  to  compare  the 
number  of  cases  in  each  century  with  the  population  of  that  period, 
as  Professor  Cattell  pointed  out  in  his  study,  the  curve  would,  in 
some  respects,  be  different  from  this  one.  The  figures  used  by  the 
writer  for  a  partial  comparison  are  those  given  by  Mulhall,i  and  as 
the  table  is  to  be  referred  to  again,  it  is  given  in  full  at  this  point. 

Growth  of  Population 

1480              1580              1680  1780  1880 

England 3,700,000      4,600,000      5,532,000  8,080,000  25,974,439 

France 12,600,000     14,300,000     18,800,000  25,100,000  37,400,000 

Russia 2,100,000      4,300,000     12,600,000  26,800,000  84,440,000 

Austria 9,500,000     16,500,000     14,000,000  20,200,000  37,830,000 

Italy 9,200,000     10,400,000     11,500,000  12,800,000  28,910,000 

Spain 8,800,000      8,150,000      9,200,000  9,960,000  16,290,000 

Germany 15,335,000  45,260,000 

United  States.  .  . 297,000  3,930,000  50,155,783 

Total 45,900,000     58,250,000     71,929,000  122,205,000  326,260,222 

Certain  modifications  have  necessarily  been  made  in  the  table. 
The  figures  for  England  in  1780  and  1880,  and  for  Germany  in  1780 
have  been  taken  from  other  tables  given  by  Mulhall  on  pages  444 
and  446  respectively.  The  estimated  population  of  the  United 
States  in  1701,  as  given  by  Mulhall,  has  been  added  to  the  records 
for  the  other  nations  in  1680,  and  our  census  returns  for  1790  to  the 
corresponding  figures  for  1780.     The  writer  has  not  been  able  to 

1  "Dictionary  of  Statistics,"  4th  ed.,  1898,  p.  441. 


28 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


find  any  record  of  the  German  population  earlier  than  1786. 
Roughly  speaking,  we  may  say  that  the  totals  given  in  the  preceding 
table  represent  the  population  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  world 
during  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  seventeenth,  eighteenth  and  nine- 


76    5'-*'32'l     -I     2.S4-«67    8©K>«l»2«3H^16»6^tt» 

Fig.  1.      Showing    the    Distribution    of   Eminent    Women    Through    the 
Centuries. 

teenth  centuries  respectively.  Since  28  of  the  32  eminent  women 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  43  of  the  45  of  the  sixteenth  century,  67 
of  the  84  of  the  seventeenth  century,  187  of  the  213  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  287  of  the  335  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  natives 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN  29 

of  the  eight  countries  in  this  table,  we  are  able  to  compute  the 
eminent  women  per  ten  million  of  population  produced  during  the 
last  five  centuries  by  the  leading  nations.  We  may  then  say  from 
the  following  table,  that  while  the  number  of  eminent  women  pro- 
duced by  England,  France,  Russia,  Austria,  Italy,  Spain,  Germany 
and  the  United  States  increased  from  28  in  the  fifteenth  century 
to  187  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  ratio  of  eminent  women  per 
ten  million  of  population  also  increased  from  6.1  to  15.3  in  the 
same  period.  Those  who  refuse  to  lose  faith  in  woman's  abihty 
may  find  encouragement  in  the  fact  that  the  gain  of  the  rate  per 
ten  million  of  population  of  the  sixteenth  century  over  the  fifteenth 
was  19.6  per  cent.;  of  the  seventeenth  over  the  sixteenth,  27.3  per 
cent.;  of  the  eighteenth  century  over  the  seventeenth,  64.5  per  cent. 
An  interesting  conjecture  is  whether  the  complete  record  for  the 
nineteenth  century  will  give  a  gain  per  cent,  over  that  of  the 
eighteenth  century  correlative  with  the  increased  social  and  edu- 
cational advantages  which  women  have  attained. 


Population  of  Principal 

No.  of  Eminent  Women  per 

Century 

Nations 

10,000,000  of  Population 

15 

45,900,000 

6.1 

16 

58,250,000 

7.3 

17 

71,929,000 

9.3 

18 

122,205,000 

15.3 

19 

326,260,^2'? 

8.7 

Table  III.  shows  the  distribution  of  distinguished  women  and 
distinguished  men  in  periods  of  half  centuries,  the  figures  for  the 
men  being  taken  from  the  previously  quoted  article  by  Professor 
Cattell.  In  comparing  the  distribution  of  eminent  men  and 
eminent  women  through  the  centuries,  three  facts  must  be  borne 
in  mind.  (1)  One  thousand  eminent  men  were  studied,  and  only 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-eight  women,  so  the  male  curve  might  be 
expected  at  all  points  to  rise  higher  than  the  female.  (2)  The 
eminent  men  represent  a  much  higher  degree  of  selection  than  the 
women.  (3)  The  study  of  eminent  men  was  made  in  1903  and  no 
living  persons  were  included.  These  facts  do  not,  however,  make 
it  impossible  for  us  to  note  certain  similarities  and  dissimilarities. 

The  curves  for  the  eminent  women  and  eminent  men  during  the 
period  of  Greek  supremacy  are  similar.  The  male  curve  for  the 
Roman  period  is  much  more  regular  than  the  female.  The  last 
half-century  of  the  pre-Christian  era  which  produced  more  eminent 
Roman  men  than  any  other,  produced  but  one  eminent  Roman 
woman.  The  lines  cross  for  the  first  time  in  the  second  half  of  the 
third  century  after  Christ.     From  the  sixth  to  the  eleventh  century 


30  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

TABLE  III 

Distribution  op  Eminent  Men  and  Eminent  Women  by  Periods  of  Half 
Centuries 

Half  Century  No.  of  Eminent  Women  No.  of  Eminent  Men 

700-651  B.C 0 

650-601 3 

600- 1  5 

550- 2  5 

500- 5  7 

450- 3  10 

400- 4  10 

350- 4  9 

300- 2  3 

250- 2  2 

200- 1  5 

150- 0  5 

100- 9  9 

50- 1  18 

A.D.-49 10  12 

50-99 1  9 

100- 3  10 

150- 1  3 

200- 6  9 

250- 8  6 

300- 1  10 

350- 5  4 

400- 4  2 

450- 3  4 

500- 7  1 

550- 1  1 

600- 5  1 

650- 2  1 

700- 2  2 

750- 3  1 

800- 3  2 

850- 3  1 

900- 2  2 

950- 4  3 

1000- 6  5 

1050- 3  9 

1100- 4  15 

1150- 8  8 

1200- 4  12 

1250- 6  6 

1300- 9  10 

1350- 8  11 

1400- 10  17 

1450- 22  57 

1500- 27  45 

1550- 18  49 

1600- 48  88 

1650- 36  68 

1700- 70  125 

1750- 143  241 

1800- 272  62 

1850- 63  

Total 868  1000 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  31 

the  number  of  women  equals  or  exceeds  the  number  of  men.  With 
few  exceptions,  the  eminent  women  of  these  centuries  were  sover- 
eigns, abbesses  and  saints,  or  belong  to  the  groups  "Marriage" 
and  "Birth."  If  the  eminent  women  were  selected  as  rigidly  as 
the  eminent  men,  the  position  of  the  curves  through  these  centuries 
would  undoubtedly  be  reversed.  Of  the  later  period,  Professor 
Cattell  writes :  "Inour  curve  there  are  three  noticeable  breaks.  .  .  . 
Thus,  in  the  fourteenth  century  there  was  a  pause  followed  by  a 
gradual  improvement  and  an  extraordinary  fruition  at  the  end  of 


Fig.  2.     Showing  the  Distribution  of  Eminent  Women  and  Eminent  Men 
in  Periods  of  Half  Centm-ies. 

the  fifteenth  century.  .  .  .  There  was  then  a  pause  in  progress, 
until  a  century  later  England  and  France  took  the  lead.  .  .  .  The 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  a  sterile  period,  followed 
by  a  revival  culminating  in  the  French  Revolution."  If  we  except 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  when  the  male  curve  fell  and 
the  female  rose,  the  identical  words  might  have  been  written  of  the 
eminent  women.  Whatever  the  factors  in  these  centuries  that 
cooperated  to  produce  genius,  they  were  effective  in  both  sexes, 
though  to  a  lesser  degree  in  the  one  than  in  the  other. 

The  number  of  cases  of  eminent  women  varies  so  greatly  for 
the  different  centuries  that  it  is  impossible  to  plot  a  rehable  curve 
of  merit.     However,  if  we  take  the  average  number  of  lines  given 


32  A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

TABLE  IV 

Distribution  of  Eminent  Women  Through  the  Centuries  by  Nations 

B.C.  A.D. 

765432     1       123      45678 

England  —    —   —   — 1     1 

France  —    —   —    — 

Germany —   - —    —  —   — 2 

America  — -    —   —    — 

Italy 

Rome  111111       7      94     10    23 

Austria  —    —   —    — ■■ • 

Spain  —    —  —   — 

Russia  —    —  —   — 

Sweden  —    —  —   — 

Greece  2     1     5    2 3     1 

Scotland  —    —  —    — 

Bj'zantium  —    —   —    —     2     1     1    —    1 

Holland 

Ireland  —    —  —    —   —    1 

Egypt  3    3—     3 

Hungary  —    —  —   — 

Prankish  Empire  — 1     2    3     1 

Poland 

Denmark  —    —   —   — 

Bavaria  —    —   —    — 1 

Bohemia  —    —   —    — 

Persia  —    1     2     1 — 

Switzerland  —    —  —   — 

Portugal  —    —   —    — 

Arabia  —    —   —      1 2   — 

Belgium  —    —   —    — 

Briton  —      1   —   —     1 

Flanders  —    —  —   —   —  — 

Norway  —    —   —    — 

Roumania  —    —  —    — ■ — 

Visigoths  — —    —   —    — 2 

Macedon  1 —    —   —    — 

Armenia  —       1    —    — 

Thuringia  —    —   —    — 1 

Burgundy  —    —   —    —   —    1 

Africa  —    —   —    — 

China  —    —   —    — 

Canada —    —   —    — 

Venezuela  —    —  —   — 

Ostrogoths  —    —   —    — 1 

Wales 1    — 

Total 338841     10     II     4     14    67875 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


33 


TABLE  IV 
Distribution  of  Eminent  Women  Through  the  Centuries  by  Nations 
A.D. 


9     10     11  12 
1  2 

—  —      1  2 

—  41  1 


13 


14     15     16     17 

-  1      3     12     16 

2  3     13     16    35 
2—215 

-  —     —     —       2 

3  3      7     10      8 


1      1 


1     — 


2     —     — 


1     —    —    —    —       1       1 


19     Total 

82     178 


—  5 


1        3     — 
3     —         1 


170 
114 
75 
60 
41 
24 
23 
20 
16 
15 
14 
12 
11 


England 
France 
Germany- 
America 
Italy 
Rome 
Austria 
Spain 
Russia 
Sweden 
Greece 
Scotland 
Byzantium 
Holland 
Ireland 
Egypt 
Hungary 
Prankish  Empire 
Poland 
Denmark 
Bavaria 
Bohemia 
Persia 
Switzerland 
Portugal 
Arabia 
Belgium 
Briton 
Flanders 
Norway 
Roumania 
Visigoths 
Macedon 
Armenia 
Thuringia 
Burgundy 
Africa 
China 
Canada 
Venezuela 
Ostrogoths 
Wales 


12     10     17     32     45     84     213     335     868 


ntury 

Average  No.  of  Lines 

16 

72.72 

15 

61.55 

18 

45.95 

14 

43.48 

IB.C. 

40.73 

17 

39.01 

19 

37.22 

3 

36.26 

12 

35.87 

13 

28.43 

1 

27.68 

34  A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

to  the  women  of  the  different  centuries,  we  find,  considering  only 
the  centuries  in  which  ten  or  more  eminent  women  were  born,  these 
results : 

No.  Cases  on  which  Average  is  Based 
45 
32 

213 
17 
10 
84 

335 
14 
12 
10 
11 

If  we  may  accept  these  averages  as  indices  of  merit,  it  is  quite 
clearly  shown  that  in  no  period  of  history  have  women  equalled 
in  ability  those  of  the  Renaissance.  The  seventeenth  century 
produced  women  of  lesser  ability  than  did  the  sixteenth;  in  the 
eighteenth  century  they  tended  toward,  but  did  not  reach,  the 
mark  set  two  centuries  earlier.  The  figures  for  the  recent  centuries 
are  influenced  by  the  fact  that  women  of  a  comparatively  low 
degree  of  eminence  are  mentioned  in  the  encyclopedias,  and  have 
thus  been  admitted  to  our  list.  Women  of  a  similar  grade  of 
ability  who  lived  several  centuries  earlier  have  been  forgotten. 
This  fact  merely  emphasizes  what  we  have  previously  pointed  out, 
namely,  the  greater  degree  of  inaccuracy  in  our  results  as  we 
approach  our  own  generation. 

Distribution  of  the  Eminent  Women  by  Nationality 
The  number  of  eminent  women  produced  by  forty-two  different 
nations  during  the  centuries  is  shown  in  Table  IV.  England  has 
furnished  eight  more  distinguished  women  than  France.  Germany 
ranks  third  with  114;  America,  only  two  centuries  old,  is  fourth. 
Italy  produced  60,  Rome  41,  Austria  24,  and  Spain  23  eminent 
women.  Russia  claims  20,  Sweden  16,  Greece  15,  and  Scotland  14. 
Twelve  of  the  eminent  women  belong  to  the  Byzantine  Empire, 
11  to  Holland,  and  9  to  Ireland.  Twenty-seven  nations  each  pro- 
duced fewer  than  ten  eminent  women. 

Of  the  seventy-five  American  women  of  ability  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  20  were  born  in  Massachusetts,  15  in  New  York,  7  in 
England.  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  and  Pennsylvania 
each  claim  4;  3  are  natives  of  South  Carolina,  and  3  of  Ohio;  2  were 
born  in  Illinois.  Ireland,  Canada,  the  District  of  Columbia, 
Maryland,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  Vermont,  Alabama,  and  California 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  35 

each  produced  one  eminent  woman.  In  other  words,  New  England 
has  produced  33,  or  more  than  twice  as  many  as  New  York;  9  are 
of  foreign  birth,  and  8  are  southern  women.  Only  one  eminent 
American  woman  was  born  west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Our 
figures  thus  accord  with  those  of  Professor  Cattell^  who  found  the 
birth  rate  of  American  scientific  men  to  be  "108.8  per  miUion 
population  in  Massachusetts,  and  86.9  in  Connecticut,  decreasing 
continually  at  greater  distances  from  this  center." 

In  the  production  of  eminent  men  the  order  given  by  Professor 
Cattell  is  France,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  Italy,  Rome,  Greece, 
America,  Spain,  Switzerland,  Holland,  Sweden,  and  Russia.  The 
relative  positions  of  France  and  England  are  reversed  in  the  two 
studies.  In  both  instances,  Germany  ranks  third.  America  is 
changed  from  seventh  on  the  fist  of  eminent  men  to  fourth  on 
the  Ust  of  eminent  women.  It  is  quite  probable  that  America  as 
a  land  which  spells  opportunity  is  particularly  apphcable  to  women. 
It  must  also  be  remembered  that  for  this  study  women  have  had 
more  than  an  additional  generation  in  which  to  gain  recognition. 
Another  fact  to  be  considered  is  that  for  the  selection  of  eminent 
men  two  English  and  one  American  encyclopedia  were  used,  and 
for  the  women,  the  order  was  reversed.  Switzerland  and  Holland 
rank  proportionately  higher  in  the  production  of  eminent  men  than 
eminent  women.  They  are  replaced  on  our  fist  by  Austria  and 
Scotland. 

The  relative  number  of  eminent  women  produced  by  England, 
France,  Germany,  America,  and  Italy  at  different  periods  is  shown 
in  the  accompanying  curve  (Fig.  3).  In  the  fifteenth  century, 
France  and  Italy  were  leading  in  the  number  of  eminent  women; 
by  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  France  was  declining, 
and  England  had  surpassed  them  both.  But  England  had  a 
subsequent  fall,  and  France  a  rapid  rise,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Later  in  the  century,  France  decHned  again; 
England  gained;  the  German  curve  rose  rapidly;  and  the  Italian 
remained  very  low.  Of  the  five  modern  nations  which  have  con- 
tributed the  largest  number  of  eminent  women,  France  is  the  only  one 
for  whom  the  incomplete  records  of  the  nineteenth  century  show  a 
decline  in  the  number  of  eminent  women  over  the  eighteenth 
century.  We  quote  as  pecuharly  applicable  to  the  eminent  women 
what  Professor  Cattell  said  regarding  the  eminent  men,  "The 
French  Revolution  brought  into  prominence  many  men  not  truly 
great,  and  the  position  then  attained  by  France  is  not  held  in  the 
nineteenth  century."     The  figures  for  the  nineteenth  century  reveal 

2  "A  Statistical  Study  of  American  Men  of  Science,"  Science,  N.  S.,  Vol.  24, 
No.  621,  pp.  658-665;  No.  622,  pp.  699-707;  No.  623,  pp.  732-742,  1906. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  37 

a  third  period  of  Italian  activity,  chiefly  in  music  and  literature. 
In  so  far  as  the  data  for  the  last  century  are  reliable,  America  gives 
greater  promise  for  the  immediate  future  than  any  other  nation. 
These  curves  show  quite  distinctly  that  the  high  degree  of  merit 
attained  by  the  women  of  the  Renaissance  was  due  to  the  ability 
of  the  English,  French,  and  Italians. 

Yet  more  significant,  in  one  sense,  than  the  above  figures,  are 
the  ones  given  below  in  Table  V.,  and  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  4, 
where  the  record  of  these  same  five  nations  through  the  same 
centuries  has  been  computed  according  to  the  number  of  eminent 
women  per  ten  million  of  population.  Mulhall's  table,  previously 
quoted,  was  used  as  the  basis  of  this  computation. 

TABLE  V 

Number  of  Eminent  Women  pee  Ten  Million  of  Population 

1480       1580  1680       1780  1880 

England 8.1                 26.0  28.9                 73.0  31.5 

France 10.3                 11.1  18.6                 21.9  11.4 

Italy 7.6                  9.0  6.9                  5.4  5.8 

Germany 29.3  11.2 

America 15.2  13.3 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  number  of  eminent  women  per 
ten  million  of  population,  France  is  not  the  only  nation  whose 
nineteenth  century  ratio  fails  to  equal  that  of  the  eighteenth. 
Germany,  and  especially  England,  have  failed  signally  in  this  re- 
spect. Italy  is  the  only  one  of  the  five  modern  nations  which 
at  present  shows  a  gain  in  ratio  of  eminent  women  according  to 
population,  in  the  last  century  over  the  previous  one.  She  seems 
to  be  rising  out  of  the  trough  of  a  curve,  the  crest  of  which  was 
reached  in  her  sixteenth  century  Renaissance.  These  figures 
emphasize  the  promising  situation  in  America.  In  another  half 
century,  it  will  undoubtedly  be  seen  that  while  our  population 
increased  from  3,930,000  in  1790  to  50,155,783  in  1880,  there  was  a 
corresponding  increase  in  the  number  of  American  women  of  ability 
per  ten  milHon  of  population.  No  more  vital  problem  in  connec- 
tion with  the  social  and  educational  life  of  woman  could  be  pro- 
pounded than  the  one  revealed  by  these  curves.  Is  the  racial 
difference  an  important  factor,  or  must  one  look  to  the  social 
conditions  and  educational  opportunities  of  the  time  for  an  ex- 
planation? Why  is  it  that  England,  starting  in  the  fifteenth 
century  with  the  same  ratio  as  Italy  (8  eminent  women  per  ten 
million  of  population)  should  rise  in  the  eighteenth  century  to  73, 
while  Italy  fell  to  5?  Or,  why  has  the  English  curve,  which  started 
lower  than  the  French  and  equal  with  the  Italian,  towered,  since 
the  sixteenth  century,   so  far  above  the  remaining  four?     How 


38 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


explain  the  fact  that  while  France  was  so  prominent  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  her  women  had  unusual 
opportunity  to  come  into  public  notice,  the  number  of  eminent 
women  on  the  basis  of  population  being  produced  by  Germany,  and 


Cases 
/« 

yo 

65 


55 
St> 
AS 
40 

as 

90 

xe 
ftfi 

IS 

to 

6 

Fig.  4. 


Fn^temd- 
T^nance-- 
fi^ty 


it>  i&  ^7  is  io     C<u^Cat(^ 

Showing  the  Production  of  Eminent  Women  in  Recent  Centuries 
by  the  Leading  Nations,  on  the  Basis  of  Popuhition. 


especially  by  England,  was  far  in  excess  of  the  number  being 
produced  by  France?  In  America,  the  youngest  of  the  five  nations, 
what  is  there  to  explain  our  present  position  above  Italy,  Germany, 
and  France,  and  second  only  to  England?     Or,  to  be  more  insistent, 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN  39 

what  would  a  comparison  of  modern  English  and  American  con- 
ditions reveal  that  would  determine  that  the  latter  should  be 
second,  instead  of  first,  in  the  ratio  of  eminent  women  per  ten 
million  of  population? 

Using  the  same  method  for  calculating  the  relative  merit  of  the 
eminent  women  of  different  nations  as  was  used  in  the  case  of  the 
centuries,  the  following  results  were  obtained.  The  table  gives 
only  the  countries  which  have  produced  ten  or  more  women  of 
ability,  and  in  each  instance  the  number,  on  which  the  average  is 
based,  is  recorded. 

Merit  of  Nations 

Average  No.  No.  of  Cases  on  which 

of  Lines  Average  is  Based 

Scotland 74.1  14 

Russia 62.9  20 

Spain 55.5  23 

France 53.0  170 

Sweden 48.3  16 

England 47.7  178 

Austria 41.7  24 

Italy 37.4  60 

Greece 36.8  15 

Germany 35.9  114 

Byzantium 35.5  ,  12 

Holland 30.2  11 

America 30.0  7  6 

Rome 28.5  41 

It  is,  perhaps,  in  accordance  with  popular  opinion  that  Scotch 
ability  is  rated  so  high,  though  it  is  evident  that  the  great  merit 
of  Mary  Stuart  has  unduly  influenced  that  of  the  entire  group. 
Possibly  many  of  us  need  to  readjust  our  conceptions  of  Russian 
and  Spanish  women  in  order  to  accept  these  figures.  In  this 
connection,  the  method  of  selecting  the  hst  of  eminent  women  must 
be  borne  in  mind.  No  Russian  or  Spanish  sources  were  used, 
hence  any  representatives  of  these  countries  which  would  find  men- 
tion in  three  foreign  encyclopedias  would  necessarily  be  most 
distinguished.  On  the  other  hand,  England,  France,  Germany,  and 
America,  having  the  largest  number  of  cases,  suffer  a  reduction  in 
average  of  merit  because  of  the  greater  or  less  number  of  women 
included  who  barely  come  within  the  limits  of  our  standard  of 
eminence.  With  these  influences  in  mind,  it  may  be  most  accurate 
to  say  that,  since  the  four  nations  above  mentioned,  England, 
France,  Germany,  and  America,  are  affected  more  or  less  similarly, 
that  the  figures  showing  the  relative  abihty  of  their  able  women 
are  more  accurate  when  considered  independent  of  those  given  for 
other  nations. 


40  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

Distribution  of  Eminent  Women  by  Occupations 

Accustomed  as  we  are  to  thinking  of  the  sphere  of  woman  as  a 

limited  one,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  868  women  became 

eminent  in  twenty-nine  Unes  of  activity,  if  some  of  the  designations 

in  Table  VI.  can  be  dignified  by  such  a  term.     In  making  this 

TABLE  VI 

Cases  Cases 

Literature 337  Reformer 9 

Marriage 87  Dancer 6 

Religion 64  Immortalized  in  literature ....     6 

Sovereign 59  Patron  of  learning 6 

Actress 56  Beauty 6 

Music 49  Educator 3 

Birth 39  Revolutionist 2 

Mistress 29  Misfortune 2 

Scholar 20  Traveler 2 

Political  influence  or  ability. . .   19  Adventuress 2 

Artist 17  Physician 2 

Philanthropy 12  Fortune  teller 1 

Tragic  fate 11  Criminal 1 

Heroine 10  Conjugal  devotion _J. 

Motherhood 10  Total 868 

classification,  it  has  been  impossible  to  eliminate  a  certain  amount 
of  personal  judgment.  In  the  remainder  of  the  study,  it  has  been 
my  task  to  classify  the  information  furnished  by  the  encyclopedias, 
and  other  sources  to  which  it  has  been  necessary  to  appeal.  But 
in  attempting  to  group  the  women  according  to  the  activity  in 
which  they  attained  eminence,  there  has  been  considerable  diffi- 
culty. In  a  large  percentage  of  cases  the  encyclopedias  state 
definitely  that  the  woman  in  question  was  a  poet,  or  a  philanthropist, 
or  was  famed  for  her  unusual  beauty.  In  this  respect,  the  German 
authorities  are  especially  clear.  But  in  many  instances  the  same 
woman  is  an  actress  and  a  writer  of  dramas;  or,  she  may  have  been 
influential  in  the  poUtical  situation  of  her  time,  and,  if  so,  was 
probably  the  mistress  of  a  king.  While  it  would  have  been  possible 
to  put  the  same  woman  in  more  than  one  group,  it  seemed  unwise 
to  do  so,  because  of  the  confusion  thus  arising  from  the  increased 
numbers.  Where  this  overlapping  obtained,  I  have  tried  in  each 
instance  to  decide,  on  the  basis  of  the  information  at  command, 
which  was  the  thing  to  which  her  eminence  was  due.  Not  every 
one  would  agree  with  all  my  decisions.  For  instance,  the  romantic 
life  and  tragic  fate  of  the  eminent  Queen  of  Scots,  or  the  fact  that 
she  is  on  the  martyrs'  roll  of  the  church  might  readily  be  considered 
determining  factors.  I  have  decided  that  the  fact  that  she  was  a 
queen  was  the  cause  of  her  being  sent  to  the  guillotine,  and  her 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  41 

beauty  and  romantic  adventures  might  never  have  been  known  in 
history  had  they  been  dissociated  from  her  royal  personage.  Hence, 
I  have  classed  her  as  a  sovereign.  Jeanne  d'Arc  might  well  be 
called  a  heroine,  but  to  me,  her  religion  was  the  inspiration  of  her 
heroism,  hence  she  is  called  a  rehgious  enthusiast.  Illustrations 
of  a  similar  nature  might  be  multiplied. 

The  classification  is  not  wholly  satisfactory,  but  it  serves  a 
certain  purpose.  The  group  designated  "Literature"  includes  a 
number  of  scholars,  who,  because  they  published  the  results  of  their 
work,  are  called  authors.  Those  under  "Marriage"  are,  for  the 
most  part,  the  wives  of  kings.  The  group  "Sovereigns"  includes 
regents  as  well  as  those  reigning  in  their  own  right. 

337  women,  or  38.8  per  cent,  of  the  entire  group,  won  their 
eminence  by  the  use  of  the  pen.  It  is  probable  that  woman  has 
had  more  opportunity  in  literature  than  in  any  other  line  of  work. 
Her  actions  have  been  restricted  in  various  degrees  at  different 
times,  and  in  different  locahties,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  her  thought 
has  been  regulated.  It  is,  undoubtedly,  her  innate  right  to  reign 
supreme  over  her  feehngs.  Our  figures  bear  us  out  in  this,  in  that 
the  analysis  of  the  group  of  writers  in  the  following  table  shows  a 
large  per  cent,  of  feminine  literature  to  be  of  an  emotional  or  imagi- 
native nature.  In  this  classification,  which  does  not  include  all 
writers  because  of  lack  of  information,  a  woman  is  counted  more 
than  once,  according  to  the  nature  of  her  productions. 

TABLE  VII 

Classification  of  Eminent  Writers 
Nature  of  Work  No.  of  Cases  Nature  of  Work  No.  of  Cases 


Novels 117  Essay 3 

Poetry 93  Woman  question 2 

Drama 11  Children's  stories 2 

Religious 7  Educational 2 

Letters 7  Biography 2 

Historical 7  Short  story 2 

Memoirs 5  Editorial 2 

Critical 5  Fables 1 

Translation 5  Scientific 1 

Travel 4  Fairy  tales 1 

Moral 4  Socialistic 1 

Miscellaneous 3 

If  we  neglect  for  the  time  being  the  groups  "Marriage"  and 
"Sovereigns,"  and  admit  that  the  mistresses  are  impossible  to 
classify,  we  note  that  religion,  the  stage,  and  music  all  appeal  to  the 
emotions.  These  four  groups  aggregate  506  or  58.2  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  number  of  eminent  women,  before  we  reach  the  small 


42  A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

TABLE  VIII 

Showing  Distribution  of  Occupations  by  Centuries 
B.C.  A.D. 

765432      1  123      45678 

Literature  22     1 —       1    — 1 

Marriage  1    —    221—4       52       111111 

Religion  —     1     12     1     3     2     5     1 

Sovereign  1 1  —   —   —     1    —   4   —    1 

Actress —   —  —   —   — 

Music  —  —   —   — 

Birth  22—3       1 11111 

Mistress  2     2 — 

Scholar  1 1 

Politics  —      2   — 

Artist  —  —  —   — 

Philanthropy  —  —   —   — 

Tragic  fate  —    1     1    —    1    —   — 1 

Heroine  1       2    —      1 

Motherhood  1     —  —   —      1     1 

Reformer  —  —   —    — 

Dancer  —  —   —   — 

Immortalized  in  literature —  —  —   — 

Patron  of  learning  —  —     1     — 

Beauty  1 1 

Educator  —  —   —   — 

Revolutionist  —  —   —    — 

Misfortune  —  —   —    — 

Traveler  —  —   —    — 

Physician  —  —   —    — 

Adventuress  —  —   —   — 

Conjugal  devotion  1 —  —   —   — 

Fortune  teller  —  —   —   — 

Criminal  —  —   —    — 

Total 338741     10  11     4     15    67875 

group  of  scholars  who  have  exercised  the  power  of  reason.  Add 
to  this,  the  artists  and  dancers  as  further  illustrations  of  emotional 
activity,  and  we  see  that  the  common  concept  of  woman  as  a 
creature  of  feeling  rather  than  a  creature  of  reason  may  not  be 
without  foundation.  If  this  conception  is  just,  our  classification 
tends  to  show  that  when  woman  has  attained  eminence,  it  has  not 
been  in  spite  of  her  femininity,  but  rather  because  of  it. 

Table  VIII.  gives  the  distribution  of  the  activities  of  eminent 
women  through  the  twenty-six  centuries.  As  remote  as  the 
seventh  century  before  Christ  women  have  become  eminent  in 
literature.  This  early  work  is  poetry  and  undoubtedly  represents 
the  outburst  of  genius  rather  than  the  result  of  training.  In  the 
early  centuries,  a  woman  might  be  born  to  eminence,  and  in  a  few 
instances  she  was  allowed  to  govern,  but  a  large  percentage  of  the 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  43 

TABLE  VIII 
Showing  Distribution  of  Occupations  by  Centuries 
A.D. 

9    10  11    12     13     14     15     16     17      18       19  Total 

—  1     1       1     —      2       4       5     25     107     184  337               Literature 
1     2     1       4      3       3       7       7       6       18       12  87                Marriage 
112333485         5         4  64               Religion 
212215699         5         9  59               Sovereign 

_____      4  19  33  56  Actress 

______  6  43  49  Music 

1    —    1—112—4  9  7  39  Birth 

1—14       49  6—  29  Mistress 

!_____      4  8  5  20  Scholar 

1 i__22       8  2  1  19  Politics 

__1_2      3  3  8  17  Artist 

1  —    —     —    —    —       1  2  8  12  Philanthropy 

_1_13_  2—  11  Tragic  fate 

___      i__  3  2  10  Heroine 

—  1    —  —    —    —    —      2       2  2  —  10  Motherhood 

—    —    —    —    —    —  2  7  9  Reformer 

—    —    —    —    —    —  1  5  6  Dancer 

—       1       1     —    —    —  4  —  6  Immortal  in  lit. 

—    —    —    —      2       2  1  —  6  Patron  of  learning 

___111  1—  6  Beauty 

__    —    ___  2  1  3  Educator 

—    —    —    —    —    —  1  1  2  Revolutionist 

—    —    —    —    —    —  —  2  2  Misfortune 

______  1  1  2  Traveler 

—    —    —    —    —    —  1  1  2  Physician 

—    —    —    —     —    —  ,1  1  2  Adventuress 

—    —    —    —    —    —  —  —  1  Conjugal  devotion 

—    —    —    —    —    —  1  —  1  Fortune  teller 

—    —    —    —    —       1  —  —  1  Criminal 

6     6    9     12     10     17    32    45    84    213     335     868" 

names  that  have  come  down  to  us  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century- 
are  those  of  women  who  were  wives  of  men  more  distinguished 
than  themselves.  The  Christian  rehgion  made  a  strong  appeal  to 
womanhood,  and  no  century  has  been  without  its  representative  in 
this  field.  Mr.  Havelock  EUis'  cites,  in  a  discussion  of  the  part 
played  by  women  in  the  rehgious  history  of  the  world,  a  certain 
"Dictionary  of  Rehgions"  as  authority  for  the  statement  that  of 
600  rehgious  sects,  only  seven  were  founded  by  women.  In  the 
group  of  64  eminent  women  classed  under  "Religion"  in  our  study, 
five  were  founders  of  sects  known  respectively  as  Christian  Science, 
the  Buchanites,  the  Southcottians,  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon's 
Connection,  and  the  Shakers.  In  addition.  Saint  Clara  founded 
the  Franciscan  Order  of  Nuns;  Saint  Theresa,  the  Barefooted 
^  "Man  and  Woman,"  p.  214. 


44 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


TABLE  IX 
Distribution  of  Activities  in  Different  Nations 

i  ^    i-^  >.  §-^  «-il  §1  ^  1|  -  M  "^  1 1 
Ig    is|ilii|sl^||^|i-igi 

Literature                 108  56     58  41  10    2    5     5    2    9     4    9     1     5    7—1    —    3     1   — 

Marriage  13     10     14—    3  13     545     1     1—4 1     1—132 

Religion  9      7      327  10     132     132 1    —   2    5 

Sovereign  6  4      4—6—4771—142—111    —    13 

Actress  13    21       87    2—     1 1 1     1    — 

Music  4      6      96    9—5     1—3 3 

Birth  2     12      3—    4     4—     1     1     1 6   —    2 

Mistress  3     16      3 2 3 1—1 

Scholar  3      2      313 2—2—1 1 

PoUtics  2     11 3     2 1 

Artist  2      3       113 1 2 1 

Philanthropy  7       1       13 

Tragic  fate  1      2      2—    3    3 

Heroine  1       2 2 1     1 1 

Mother  3      2       1—     1     3 

Reformer  —    —   —    9 

Dancer  —      2 2—    2 

Immortalized  in 

literature  —      2       3—     1 

Patron  of  learning  —      4       1 1 

Beauty  1 3     1 1 

Educator  —       1—2 

Revolutionist  —      2 

Misfortune  —    —   —     2 

Traveler  — 1 1 

Adventure  —       1 1 

Physician  —       1    —     1 

Fortune  teller  —       1 

Conjugal  devotion  —    — 1 

Criminal  —       1 

Total  178  170  114  75  60  41  24  23  20  16  15  14  12  11    9    9     9     8     7    6    5 


Carmelites;  Angela  Merici,  the  Ursuline  Order;  and  Jeanne  Chantal, 
the  Order  of  Visitation.  Sixteen  or  one  fourth  of  the  group  suffered 
martyrdom.  Motherhood,  heroism  and  beauty  occur  occasionally 
without  reference  to  time  or  nationality.  Actresses  date  only  from 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  musicians  from  the  eighteenth. 
The  reformers,  dancers,  educators,  revolutionists,  travelers,  and 
physicians  are  products  of  the  last  two  centuries.  For  those  who 
are  interested  in  the  problem  of  the  modern  woman  the  record  for 
the  nineteenth  century  ought  to  be  of  interest.  184  of  the  335  women 
of  the  century  are  writers.     The  stage  has  been  the  stepping  stone 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


45 


TABLE  IX 

Distribution  of  Activities  in  Different  Nations 


'3     'G    ^        O      O      .S 

fq  m  Pl^    ^  p4    > 


fq    <i1    O    O  >  O 


2     2 


1     1     1 1 

2 1     1 

1 1 

1    —    2 1 


1     1 


11 

1 


—    1 

1    — 


1     1 


Literature 

Marriage 

Religion 

Sovereign 

Actress 

Music 

Birth 

Mistress 

Scholar 

Politics 

Artist 

Philanthropy 

Tragic  fate 

Heroine 

Motherhood 

Reformer 

Dancer         ' 

Immortalized  in 

literature 
Patron  of  learning 
Beauty 
Educator 
Revolutionist 
Misfortune 
Traveler 
Adventure 
Physician 
Fortune  teller 
Conjugal  devotion 
Criminal 


5  4 


43222222111 


1     1 


1     1     1 


to  eminence  for  more  than  eight  times  as  many  women  as  became 
noted  because  of  their  religion.  If,  however,  we  allow  a  broad 
interpretation  of  religion  to  include  social  service,  and  thus  combine 
the  groups  "Reformers"  and  "Philanthropists"  with  the  group 
"Rehgion,"  the  ratio  is  33  to  19.  Forty-three  of  the  eminent 
women  of  the  century  are  musicians;  eight  are  artists.  There  are 
five  scholars.  Of  the  seven  women  born  to  eminence  in  the  last 
century,  five  are  near  relatives  of  Napoleon  I.,  the  most  eminent 
man  of  history. 

Table  IX.  shows  how  the  different  nations  have  contributed  to 


46  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

the  various  lines  of  activity.  108  of  the  337  writers  were  English, 
58  were  German,  56  French,  41  American,  10  Italian,  9  Swedish, 
9  Scotch,  and  7  Irish. 

Rome  furnished  10  of  the  Christian  martyrs.  Aside  from  Rome, 
England,  France  and  Italy  have  produced  most  of  the  saints  of 
history.  Seven  of  the  great  queens  were  Spanish,  and  7  Russian, 
6  were  English  and  6  Itahan,  4  were  French,  4  German  and  4 
Austrian.  Twenty-one  of  the  56  actresses  were  French,  and  13 
English.  America  has  produced  one  less  than  Germany,  which 
claims  8.  Germany  and  Italy  have  led  in  musicians  with  9  each. 
France  and  America  follow  second  with  6  each.  Austria  has 
produced  5.  It  has  been  in  France  more  than  in  any  other  country 
that  women  have  been  born  to  greatness.  Only  seven  nations  are 
represented  in  the  group  "Mistresses,"  France  producing  16  of  the 
29.  England,  Germany  and  Italy  each  claim  3  scholars.  America 
has  one,  the  astronomer,  Maria  Mitchell.  French  women  have 
become  eminent  through  poUtics  more  than  the  women  of  any  other 
nation.  The  artists  are  scattered,  France  and  Italy  leading  with  3 
each.  England  has  led  in  philanthropy  as  the  work  of  woman; 
America  follows  second  with  only  two  other  nations  being  repre- 
sented, namely  France  and  Germany.  The  social  reformers  com- 
prise the  largest  group  which  belongs  entirely  to  one  nation.  These 
9  women  were  Americans.  The  movements  in  which  they  have 
chiefly  distinguished  themselves  are  anti-slavery,  temperance,  and 
woman's  rights.  Of  the  dancers,  2  were  French,  2  Italian  and 
2  Austrian.  Summarizing  the  table  in  another  manner,  we  may 
say  that  English  women  have  become  eminent  chiefly  in  literature, 
by  marriage,  religion,  as  sovereigns,  actresses  and  philanthropists. 
French  women  are  most  numerous  in  the  groups  "Literature," 
"Marriage,"  "Religion,"  "Actress,"  "Birth,"  "Mistress"  and 
"Political  Influence."  German  women  are  most  numerous  in 
the  groups  "Literature,"  "Marriage,"  "Actress"  and  "Music." 
American  women  have  gained  eminence  chiefly  as  writers,  actresses, 
musicians  and  reformers.  Italian  women  are  grouped  largely 
under  "Literature,"  "Religion,"  "Sovereign"  and  "Music." 
Spain  is  the  only  nation  sufficiently  represented  to  be  considered 
which  has  produced  more  sovereigns  than  writers.  The  Austrian 
women  are  almost  equally  divided  among  "Literature,"  "Mar- 
riage," "Music"  and  "Sovereign."  Swedish  women  have  excelled 
in  literature,  as  have  also  Scotch  and  Irish  and  Dutch.  Woman's 
life  was  so  restricted  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  periods  that  the 
representatives  of  these  civilizations  can  fall  in  but  a  few  groups. 

Although  38.8  per  cent,  of  the  entire  group  of  women  became 
eminent  in  literature,  it  does  not  follow  that  in  this  line  of  work  they 


DISTRIBUTION  OF   EMINENT  WOMEN  47 

attained  the  highest  degree  of  eminence.  Table  X.  shows  the 
average  number  of  lines  given  to  the  different  groups.  The  aver- 
ages may  be  considered  as  indices  of  merit  for  the  various  occu- 
pations. The  number  of  cases  on  which  the  average  is  based  is 
indicated  in  each  instance.  The  results  show  very  clearly  that  it 
has  been  as  sovereigns  that  women  have  become  the  most  eminent. 
Second  in  rank,  but  reduced  to  almost  one  half  the  degree  of  dis- 
tinction attained  by  the  sovereigns  is  the  group  of  politicians. 
Motherhood,  based  on  fewer  cases  than  either  of  the  two  previous 
groups,  ranks  third.  This  group  of  mothers,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, does  not  include  women  who,  besides  having  eminent  sons  or 
daughters,  were  themselves  distinguished  in  some  line  of  activity. 

TABLE  X 
Index  of  Merit  for  Occupations 

Average  No.  No.  of  Cases  on  which 

of  Lines  Average  is  Based 

Sovereign 112.10  59 

Political  influence 62.13  19 

Motherhood 46.14  10 

Mistress 46.09  29 

Beauty 44.62  6 

ReUgion 43.58  64 

Tragic  fate 42.83  11 

Marriage 38.09  87 

Patron  of  learning 37.60  6 

Heroine 35.46  10 

Scholar 35.35  20 

Artist 34.54  17 

Reformer 32.29  9 

Actress 32.02  56 

Literature 29.74  ,     337 

Immortalized  in  literature 29.30  6 

Music 27.46  49 

Birth 27.45  39 

Dancer 22.15  6 

Such  women  fall  in  the  several  groups  in  which  they  achieved  fame. 
This  group  is  comprised  of  those  women  whose  only  claim  to 
eminence  is  their  motherhood.  Undoubtedly,  they  were  very 
capable  women.  Typical  illustrations  are  Saint  Monica,  the 
mother  of  Saint  Augustine,  and  Laetitia  Bonaparte,  the  mother  of 
the  first  Emperor.  The  mistresses — which  group  includes  the 
early  Greek  courtesans — rank  high,  and  justly  so.  Our  standards 
have  changed,  and  while  our  moral  sense  may  be  offended  at  seeing 
twenty-nine  eminent  women  so  classified,  we  are  led  to  believe  that, 
in  many  instances,  these  women,  whatever  their  morals,  were  in- 
tellectually among  the  most  capable  of  their  sex.     Restricted  by 


48  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

the  social  customs  of  their  times,  they  found  in  this  relation  an 
opportunity  to  meet  and  associate  with  men  of  their  own  intellectual 
power.  Were  it  not  so,  it  scarcely  seems  probable  that  mere 
beauty  or  pleasing  personality  which  fascinated  some  weak-minded 
king  could  have  been  sufficient  reason  for  the  high  degree  of  merit 
which  history  has  accorded  them. 

Three  of  the  artists  were  sculptors— one  French,  one  English 
and  one  American.  The  group  ranks  comparatively  low  in  merit. 
However,  if  we  consider  the  groups  of  activity  in  which  women 
have  actually  done  things— attained  their  eminence  by  genuine 
labor— of  the  groups  sufficiently  large  in  size  to  expect  accuracy  in 
results,  we  note  that  the  artists  rank  higher  than  the  actresses, 
writers,  or  musicians.  In  this  last  group  are  two  composers,  one 
viohnist,  and  three  pianists.  The  remainder  are  singers.  A  pos- 
sible explanation  of  the  very  low  degree  of  merit  accorded  the  musi- 
cians is  the  fact  that  43  of  the  49  belong  to  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  of  these  43,  20  are  living  at  the  present  time,  so  their  merit  is 
not  yet  accurately  determined. 

The  merit  of  George  Sand,  Madame  de  Stael,  Madame  de 
S6vign6,  George  Eliot,  Mrs.  Browning,  Mrs.  Stowe,  and  Charlotte 
Bronte  is  not  sufficient,  when  grouped  with  so  many  writers  of  less 
ability,  to  bring  the  average  for  the  group  "Literature"  to  more 
than  29.74. 


CHAPTER  III 

Marriage  of  Eminent  Women 
The  Unmarried  Group 

Considerable  interest  always  attaches  to  the  wives  of  eminent 
men,  and  to  the  husbands  of  eminent  women.  Personally,  we  do 
not  believe  that,  with  rational  people,  love  is  blind,  hence  it  seems 
that  a  study  of  the  marriage  relations  of  this  group  of  eminent 
women  ought  to  reveal  information,  not  only  interesting,  but 
valuable  in  throwing  light  on  certain  social  and  psychological 
problems.  We  must  remember  in  this  connection,  however,  that 
one  current  definition  of  genius  does  not  always  grant  the  rationality 
of  the  individual. 

It  has  been  difficult  to  collect  data  regarding  marriages  of  the 
eminent  women.  The  encyclopedias  furnish  very  scanty  informa- 
tion on  this  point,  particularly  in  cases  where  the  husband  is  more 
or  less  obscure.  Therefore,  it  has  been  necessary  to  consult,  in 
addition,  the  "International  Encyclopedia,"  the  "Dictionary  of 
National  Biography,"  "People  of  the  Period,"  by  A.  T.  Camden 
Pratt,  "Bio-Bibhography  des  Femmes  C^lebres,"  "Cyclopedia  of 
Female  Biography,"  by  Adams,  "The  Green  Room  Book,"  "Celeb- 
rities of  the  Century,"  by  Lloyd  C.  Sanders,  "A  Woman  of  the 
Century,"  by  Mary  Livermore,  Stanton's  "Menology  of  England 
and  Wales,"  Baker's  "Biographical  Dictionary  of  Musicians," 
Grove's  "Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians,"  "Who's  Who  in  the 
Theatre,"  "Men  of  the  Time,"  "Who's  Who,"  "Wer  Ist's,"  and 
numerous  biographies  and  magazine  articles.  This  effort  has  not 
yielded  complete  returns,  for  there  still  remains  a  list  of  ninety- 
three  eminent  women  whom  I  am  unable  to  classify  either  as 
married  or  unmarried.  I  have  endeavored  to  recognize  only  lawful 
marriages;  liaisons  are  not  considered.  Four  morganatic  unions  are 
included.  In  cases  where  authorities  give  contradictory  data,  I 
have  assigned  the  woman  to  the  unknown  list.  There  are  fourteen 
mistresses  in  this  group,  and  nineteen  artists,  including  in  that 
term  in  this  instance  actresses,  dancers,  musicians,  and  painters. 
Thirty-eight  women  on  this  list  are  writers  most  of  whom  belong 
to  the  recent  centuries.  Undoubtedly  the  domestic  relations  of 
some  of  these  women  are  unknown  to  history;  for  others,  the  infor- 
mation exists,  and  it  is  only  due  to  the  writer's  inability  to  secure 
it  that  the  woman  is  unclassified. 
5  49 


50  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

One  hundred  and  forty-two  or  16.3  per  cent,  of  the  entire  number 
of  eminent  women  have  not  married.  This  is  an  interesting  group. 
49.2  per  cent,  of  the  unmarried  eminent  women  belong  to  the 
nineteenth  century.  72.5  per  cent,  were  born  in  the  last  two 
centuries.  There  is,  of  course,  the  possibility  that  some  of  our 
contemporary  women  of  distinction  may  yet  marry,  and  thus  reduce 
this  ratio.  The  number  of  cases  born  in  earlier  centuries  is  too  few 
to  give  definite  results,  but  the  following  table  tends  to  show  an 
increasing  incompatibility  through  the  last  two  hundred  years 
between  eminence  and  marriage,  until,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
one  distinguished  woman  in  every  five  has  chosen  to  work  and  live 
alone. 

Distribution  of  Unmarried  Eminent  Women 

Per  Cent,  of  the  Total  Number 
Century  No.  of  Cases  of  Cases  of  the  Century 


19 

70 

20.8 

18 

33 

15.4 

17 

8 

,   9.5 

16 

7 

15.5 

15 

3 

14 

2 

12 

1 

,s! 

1 

7 

2 

5 

2 

4 

1 

3 

10 

71.4 

5  B.C. 

1 

7  " 

1 

Total... 

...  142 

While  nineteen  different  nations  are  represented  in  this  group 
of  unmarried  eminent  women,  eighty-five  or  59.8  per  cent,  of  them 
are  English  and  American.  England  has  twenty-one  more  un- 
married eminent  women  than  America,  but  the  figures  for  the 
latter  country  are  the  more  significant,  since  in  terms  of  per  cent, 
they  mean  that,  of  the  total  number  of  distinguished  women  pro- 
duced by  England,  29.7  per  cent,  have  not  married;  whereas,  in 
America,  the  ratio  is  42.6  per  cent.  It  is  a  pertinent  question 
whether  our  women  realize  that  in  attaining  eminence  nearly  one 
half  the  number  sacrifice  their  own  homes  and  families.  We  must, 
however,  confess  a  certain  unfairness  in  this  comparison  of  the  two 
countries,  for  American  women  are  recognized  as  eminent  on  the 
merit  of  work  they  have  accomplished.  Among  the  total  number  of 
178  eminent  English  women  there  are  thirteen  who  are  classed  in  the 
group  "Marriage,"  two  under  "Birth"  and  one  under  "Beauty." 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 


51 


TABLE  XI 
Distribution  of  Unmarried  Eminent  Women 


Nation  No.  of  Cases 

England 53 

America 32 

France 9 

Italy 8 

Rome 7 

Germany 6 

Greece 5 

Sweden 4 

Spain 3 

Flanders 2 

Russia 2 

Ireland 2 

Scotland 2 

Austria 2 

Wales 

Briton 

Frankish  Empire 

Portugal 

Holland 


Per  Cent,  of  Total  Number 
of  Cases  of  the  Nation 
29.7 
42.6 
5.2 
13.3 
17.0 
5.2 


TABLE  XII 

Occupation  of  Unmarried  Eminent  Women 


Occupation  No.  of 

Literature 68 

Religion 29 

Scholar 7 

Philanthropy 7 

Artist 5 

Reformer 4 

Sovereign 3 

Actress 3 

Tragic  fate 3 

Circumstance 2 

Educator 2 

Immortalized  in  literature ...    1 

Music 1 

Traveler l 

Physician 1 

Mistress 1 

Dancer l 

Heroine l 

Revolutionist l 

Birth 1 

Total 142 


Per  Cent,  of  Total  No.  of 
in  that  Occupation 
20.1 
45.3 
35.0 
58.3 
29.4 
44.4 


52  A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

TABLE  XIII 

No.  of  Lines  Cases  Married  Cases  Unmarried 

-  9.99  19  4 

10-19.99  145  31 

20  133  39 

30  99  20 

40  76  17 

50  53  5 

60  22  4 

70  17  5 

80  17  9 

90  10  1 

100  13  0 

110  7  2 

120  1  1 

130  3  0 

140  0  1 

150  1  0 

160  2  0 

170  2  0 

180  2  0 

190  2  1 

200  1  0 

210  1  0 

220  1  0 

230  0  0 

240  0  0 

250  0  0 

260  +  _6  _2 

633  142 

Married  Unmarried 

Mode 15.0  25.0 

Median 31.9  29.2 

Average 44.0  44.8 

If,  for  our  present  consideration,  we  eliminate  these  sixteen  women, 
the  ratio  which  the  fifty-three  unmarried  women  is  of  the  total 
number  of  Enghsh  women  of  abihty  is  32.7. 

The  average  number  of  lines  devoted  to  the  American  women  of 
this  group  is  30.01;  to  the  English  44.36.  The  average  for  the 
French  (109.30)  is  based  on  only  nine  cases,  and  hence  is  unduly 
influenced  by  the  eminence  of  Jeanne  d'Arc.  The  average  number 
of  lines  for  the  women  of  Italy,  Germany,  and  Rome  is  respectively 
34.39,  27.68,  and  23.82. 

Our  figures  do  not  show  that  any  one  line  of  activity  has  appealed 
particularly  to  the  unmarried  group.  Table  XII.  shows  that  sixty- 
eight  were  writers,  and  this  is  20.1  per  cent,  or  one  fifth  of  the  total 
group  under  "Literature."  The  ratio  is  higher  in  the  case  of 
scholars,  but  the  instances  are  too  few  to  give  reliable  results.     The 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  53 

same  holds  true  of  philanthropists.  The  group  "  Religion"  deserves 
especial  mention.  While  Christianity  has  always  emphasized  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation  and  the  importance  of  the  home, 
it  has  made  an  exception  in  the  case  of  the  clergy.  Hence,  twenty- 
nine  of  the  sixty-four  women  of  history  made  eminent  by  their 
rehgious  convictions  were  unmarried.  In  addition  to  the  celibacy 
of  nuns,  one  other  fact  must  be  considered  in  this  connection.  It 
will  be  shown  in  Table  XXXI.  that  the  average  age  for  the  group 
of  women  designated  "  Rehgion"  is  54.1  years,  which  is  6.7  years  less 
than  the  average  length  of  life  for  the  entire  group  of  868  eminent 
women.  This  average  is  made  possible  by  the  fact  that  Saint 
Bridget,  Mrs.  Eddy,  and  a  few  others  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age.  The 
group  is  comprised  largely  of  young  girls  whose  zeal  for  the  Christian 
faith  brought  them  to  a  death  so  premature  that  marriage  could 
scarcely  have  been  possible. 

Two  questions  naturally  arise  in  a  consideration  of  this  group 
of  eminent  women:  (1)  Were  they,  in  their  freedom  from  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  wifehood  and  motherhood,  able  to  attain  a 
higher  degree  of  eminence  than  the  women  who  married,  and  (2) 
were  they  longer  lived.  The  first  question  is  answered  by  Table 
XIII.  which  shows  that  the  average  number  of  Unes  devoted  by 

TABLE  XIV 
Age  at  Death 

Age  at  Death  Married                             Unmarried 

-14.99  0  1 

15-19.99  3  3 

20  9  5 

25  15  5 

30  11  7 

35  23  6 

40  35  4 

45  29  6 

50  35  8 

55  43  6 

60  48  13 

65  65  8 

70  56  14 

75  47  8 

80  43  6 

85  17  6 

90  7  8 

95  0  1 

Unmarried  Married 

Mode 72.5  67.5 

Median 62.5  64.5 

Average 59.5  61.4 


54 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


the  encyclopedias  to  the  unmarried  eminent  women  is  44.8;  to  the 
married  44.0.  The  median  in  the  former  case  is  29.2;  in  the  latter, 
31.8.     Whether  we  consider  the  median  or  the  average  as  the 


index  of  merit  it  is  seen  that  marriage  has  not  been  a  potent  factor  in 

increasing  or  decreasing  the  degree  of  eminence  attained  by  women. 

Table  XIV.  shows  that  the  married  women  of  ability  lived  to 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN  55 

an  average  age  of  61.4  years,  which  is  1.9  years  longer  than  the 
average  for  the  unmarried  eminent  women.  Eighteen  per  cent,  of 
the  unmarried,  and  eight  per  cent,  of  the  married  women  of  dis- 
tinction died  before  they  were  thirty-five.  These  figures  are 
misleading,  however,  since  some  women  marry  later  than  thirty- 
five.  It  is  impossible  to  know  in  how  many  instances  marriage 
was  prevented  by  early  death.  It  is  probably  sufficient  to  invali- 
date the  significance  of  the  difference  of  1.9  years  of  the  average  age 
of  the  two  groups.  Eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  unmarried,  and  four- 
teen per  cent,  of  the  married  eminent  women  Uved  to  be  over  eighty. 
Both  the  youngest  woman  in  the  total  group  of  868,  Saint  Agnes, 
the  martyr,  aged  thirteen,  and  the  oldest,  Caroline  Herschel,  the 
astronomer,  aged  ninety-eight,  were  unmarried. 

Eminent  Women  Who  Married  Eminent  Men 
Two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  of  the  distinguished  women  married 
men  sufficiently  eminent  to  be  recorded  in  three  or  more  of  the  six 
encyclopedias  used  in  collecting  the  list  of  women.  The  number 
of  lines  accorded  these  268  men  was  counted  and  submitted  to  the 
same  system  of  standardization  as  that  described  for  the  women. 
Napoleon  I.,  Peter  the  Great,  Henry  IV.  of  France,  Philip  II.  of 

TABLE  XV 

No.  of  Husband  more 

Times  Eminent  than         Husband  less 

Name  Married  Herself  Eminent 

Mary  Stuart 3  1"  2"  3" 

Madame  de  Maintenon 2  2"  1" 

Eleanor  of  Aquitane 2  1"  2" 

Octavia 2  2  1 

Arsinoe 2  1     2 

Agrippina  II 3  3  1 

Catherine  Parr 4  3"  4" 

Julia 3  2''  3"  1" 

Louise,  Countess  of  Albany 2  1"  2" 

Anne  of  Brittany 2  1"  2" 

Eudocia  Macrembolitissa 2  1"  2" 

Fulvia 3  V'^        3"  2" 

Therese  Huber 2  1"  2" 

Margaret  Tudor  of  Scotland 3  1"  2" 

Marozia 3  1  3' 

Marie  Pauline  Bonaparte 2  1"  2" 

Poppsea  Sabina 3  2"  3" 

Zoell 4  ^^     ^^        4"  1"  2"  3" 

Mary  of  France 2  1"  2" 

Karoline  Schelling 3  2"  3" 

Louise  de  Lorraine  Conti 2  2"  1" 

Atossa 3  1"        3"  2 


56  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

Spain,  Mark  Antony,  Nero,  Philip  II.  of  France,  Claudius,  Louis 
XII.  of  France,  Ptolemy  I.,  and  Chilperic  I.  were  each  married  to 
two  of  the  eminent  women.  Five  of  the  wives  of  Henry  VIII.  of 
England  are  included  in  our  list  of  distinguished  women.  On  the 
other  hand,  twenty-two  of  the  women  married  more  than  one 
husband  sufficiently  eminent  to  fall  within  our  classification. 
These  women  are  given  in  the  preceding  table  (No.  XV.). 

The  eminent  husbands  are  arranged  in  order  of  merit  in  Table 
XVI.  The  number  preceding  each  name  is  the  one  which  denotes 
the  position  of  his  wife  in  the  fist  of  the  868  eminent  women.  The 
word  "more"  or  "less"  indicates  the  relation  of  the  eminence  of 
the  husband  to  that  of  his  wife.  The  last  column  of  figures  repre- 
sents the  total  number  of  lines  accorded  the  husbands  in  the  en- 
cyclopedias. This  is  not  a  fist  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  history, 
but  merely  a  list  of  men  of  ability  who  happened  to  marry  the 
women  whom  we  have  designated  as  eminent.  A  large  percentage 
of  these  names,  however,  occurs  in  Professor  Cattell's  list  of  one 
thousand  eminent  men.  This  means  that  in  some  cases  genius 
has  mated  with  genius,  but  it  also  means,  in  other  cases,  that  it  is 
the  eminence  of  the  husband  that  has  given  the  wife  a  place  in  our 
list  of  distinguished  women  where  she  is  grouped  under  "Marriage." 

TABLE  XVI 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 

More  or  Less 
No.  of  Eminent  than    Total  No. 

No.       Wife  Name  Wife  of  Lines 

1  17        Napoleon  I more  2613.48 

60         Napoleon  I "  2613.48 

2  692  Mohammed "  1470.04 

3  682  Julius  Cajsar "  1168.47 

4  160  Luther,  Martin "  1095.07 

5  362  Alexander  the  Great "  912.93 

6  405  Frederick  the  Great "  840.63 

7  457  Socrates "  776.30 

8  46        Napoleon  III "  738.68 

9  833         Charles  the  Great "  577.18 

10  391         Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe "  576.65 

11  291         Augustus  Cajsar "  510.34 

12  102        Charles  I.  of  England "  503.59 

13  16         Louis  XIV.  of  France "  453.12 

367         Louis  XIV.  of  France "  453.12 

14  594         Schelling,  Friedrich  W.  J.  von "  451.81 

15  288         William  I.  of  Germany "  429.58 

16  41         Peter  the  Great "  406.30 

587        Peter  the  Great "  406.30 

17  429         Guizot,  Frangois  P "  398.97 

18  323        Charles  II.  of  England "  376.67 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


57 


No.  of 

^o. 

Wife 

19 

27 

36 

281 

372 

432 

20 

649 

21 

530 

22 

478 

23 

215 

24 

582 

25 

839 

26 

33 

112 

27 

603 

28 

142 

29 

9 

30 

293 

31 

80 

32 

136 

33 

398 

34 

12 

597 

35 

35 

36 

807 

37 

199 

366 

38 

641 

39 

287 

40 

15 

41 

800 

42 

621 

43 

450 

486 

44 

285 

45 

167 

46 

54 

47 

644 

48 

594 

49 

359 

50 

286 

51 

280 

52 

105 

53 

311 

548 

54 

192 

55 

498 

56 

580 

TABLE  XVI.— Continued 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 

More  or  Less 
Eminent  than    Total  No. 

Name                                       Wife  of  Lines 

Henry  VIII.  of  England more  367.74 

Henry  VIII.  of  England "  367.74 

Henry  VIII.  of  England "  367.74 

Henry  VIII.  of  England "  367.74 

Henry  VIII.  of  England "  367.74 

Constantine  the  Great "  355.73 

Gustavus  Adolphus "  347.61 

William  II.  of  Germany "  338.93 

William  III.  of  England "  328.34 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus "  316.52 

Alexander  I.  of  Russia "  314.10 

Henry  IV.  of  France "  313.66 

Henry  IV.  of  France "  313.66 

Louis  Phillipe  I.  of  France "  312.06 

Francis  Joseph  of  Austria "  305.71 

Louis  XVI.  of  France.  . '. "  297.52 

Murat,  Joachim "  295.04 

Justinian  I "  286.97 

John  Churchill,  Duke  of  Marlborough  ....  "  284.24 

Schumann,  Robert  A "  280.19 

Philip  II.  of  Spain "  277.74 

Philip  II.  of  Spain "  277.74 

Frederick  William  III.  of  Prussia "  268.87 

Alexander  II.  of  Russia "  266.04 

Mark  Antony "  260.23 

Mark  Antony "  260.23 

Francis  I.  of  France "  258.09 

Maximilian  I.  of  Germany "  248.76 

Browning,  Robert "  244.45 

Frederick  William  I.  of  Prussia "  242.35 

James  II.  of  England "  242.11 

Nero "  241.53 

Nero "  241.53 

Tiberius "  239.13 

Louis  XV.  of  France "  237.43 

Ferdinand  V.  of  Castile  and  Aragon "  234.58 

Charles  XIV.  of  Sweden  (Bernadotte) "  230.13 

Schlegel,  August  W.  von "  229.41 

Frederick  III.  of  Germany "  225.67 

Alfieri,  Vittorio "  223.70 

Necker,  Jacques "  222.13 

George  IV.  of  England "  219.63 

Philip  II.  of  France "  207.85 

Philip  II.  of  France "  207.85 

Philip  II.  of  Macedon "  204.09 

Philip  IV.  of  France "  195.95 

Edward  III.  of  England "  194.65 


58 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


TABLE  XVI.— Continued 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 


No. 
57 
58 
59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
77 
78 

79 
80 
81 

82 
83 
84 
85 


87 
88 
89 
90 
91 
92 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
99 
100 


No.  of 
Wife 
128 
ISO 
495 
378 
519 
665 
836 

72 
241 
294 
341 
447 
464 

53 
381 
204 
183 
217 

39 
108 
494 
261 
271 
174 
553 
297 
564 
3 
837 
675 
788 
572 
802 

18 
292 
431 
1 
758 
707 
278 
540 
860 
799 
626 
282 
724 
809 


Name 


More  or  Less 

Eminent  than 

Wife 


Henry  IL  of  England more 

George  I.  of  England 

Louis  IX.  of  France 

Caesar  Germanicus 

Severus,  Lucius  Septimus 

Belisarius 

Edward  VIL  of  England 

Godwin,  William 

Ferdinand  VIL  of  Spain 

Otho  I.  of  Germany 

Ferdinand  I.  of  the  Two  SicUies 

Valentinian  III 

Gottsched,  Johann  C 

Bonaparte,  Louis 

Henry  V.  of  England 

Louis  XIII.  of  France .  .' 

Maximilian,  Ferdinand  Joseph  of  Mexico . 

Charles  VI.  of  France 

Henry  VI.  of  England 

Girardin,  Emile  de 

Clovis 

Claudius,  Tiberius  Drusus  Nero 

Claudius,  Tiberius  Drusus  Nero 

Henry  V.  of  Germany 

Louis  I.  Emperor  of  the  West 

Louis  XII.  of  France 

Louis  XII.  of  France 

Albert,  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha less 

Vespasian more 

Henry  III.  of  Germany " 

Marcus  Brutus " 

Ptolemy  I " 

Ptolemy  I " 

Henry  II.  of  France less 

Watts,  George  F more 

Varnhagen  von  Ense,  Karl  A " 

Earl  of  Bothwell less 

Dudley,  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester more 

Henry  VI.  of  Germany 

Leopold  I.  of  Belgium 

Henry  II.  of  Germany 

Brentano,  Clemens 

Heiberg,  Johann  Ludwig 

Kinkel,  Joh.  Gottfried 

Philip  V.  of  Spain 

Humbert  I.  of  Italy 

Darius  Hystaspes 


Total  No. 
of  Lines 
181.42 
177.41 
173.29 
165.47 
162.22 
162.21 
160.96 
156.08 
155.43 
155.01 
154.02 
151.03 
146.93 
146.08 
144.34 
143.75 
139.96 
139.27 
139.17 
136.92 
133.70 
129.56 
129.56 
129.42 
129.39 
129.27 
129.27 
128.77 
127.79 
120.29 
120.28 
120.11 
120.11 
119.77 
119.58 
119.36 
118.55 
117.89 
117.75 
116.03 
114.46 
108.55 
107.62 
105.69 
103.83 
101.78 
101.71 


No.  of 

No. 

Wife 

101 

285 

102 

286 

103 

258 

104 

23 

105 

297 

106 

309 

107 

693 

108 

101 

109 

809 

110 

709 

111 

316 

112 

8 

113 

1 

114 

380 

115 

7 

116 

639 

117 

579 

118 

773 

119 

270 

120 

740 

121 

81 

122 

62 

123 

16 

124 

450 

125 

756 

126 

828 

127 

131 

128 

128 

129 

512 

130 

358 

131 

1 

132 

259 

133 

728 

134 

154 

135 

725 

136 

366 

137 

713 

138 

283 

139 

546 

140 

259 

141 

126 

142 

254 

143 

298 

144 

317 

145 

502 

146 

318 

MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  59 

TABLE  XVI.— Continued 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 

More  or  Less 
Eminent  than     Total  No. 
Name  Wife  of  Lines 

Agrippa,  Marcus  Vipsanius more  99.69 

Stuart,  Chas.  Edw.  (The  Pretender) "  99.24 

Milan  I.  of  Servia "  98.14 

Roland  de  la  PlatiSre,  Jean  Marie less  96.35 

Charles  VIIL  of  France more  93.93 

Alfonso  XIL  of  Spain "  93.00 

Fawcett,  Henry "  92.90 

Arnim,  Ludwig  Achim  von "  89.56 

Cambyses "  89.32 

Peter  L  of  Castile  and  Leon "  88.82 

Berry,  Chas.  Ferdinand  d'Artois — Due  de.     "  87.95 

Francis  I.  of  Germany less  83.72 

Darnley,  Henry  Stuart "  83.70 

Forster,  Johann  George more  83.48 

Peter  IIL  of  Russia less  82.13 

Antoninus  Pius more  81.87 

Charles  IV.  of  Spain "  81.27 

Othon  I.  of  Greece "  81.13 

Tarquinius,  Lucius  Collatinus "  79.14 

Rattazzi,  Urbano "  76.14 

Charles  I.  of  Roumania less  76.12 

Lauzun,  Antoine  Nompar  de  Caumont — 

Due  de "  75.89 

Scarron,  Paul "  75.75 

Otho,  Marcus  Salvius more  74.32 

Bassompierre,  Frangois  de "  74.10 

Eastlake,  Sir  Charles  Lock "  73.94 

James  V.  of  Scotland "  73.75 

Louis  VIL  of  France "  72.52 

Mundt,  Theodore "  71.67 

Howitt,  William "  71.47 

Francis  II.  of  France less  69.80 

Ptolemy  II more  67.85 

Sigismund  of  Hungary "  67.35 

Howe,  Samuel  Gridley "  67.33 

Matthias,  Corvinus "  67.17 

Clodius,  Publius "  66.57 

William  I.  of  Wurtemberg "  63.62 

Mendes,  CatuUe "  63.56 

Lamb,  Wm.  (Lord  Melbourne) "  63.52 

Lysimachus  of  Thrace "  63.39 

Frederick  V.,  Elector  Palatine less  63.13 

Alessandro  de  Medici more  62.03 

Hall,  Samuel  Carter "  61.97 

Robinson,  Edward "  61.81 

Favart,  Charles  Simon "  61.08 

Heiberg,  Peter  Andreas "  60.82 


60 


A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


No.  of 

No. 

Wife 

147 

342 

148 

117 

149 

201 

150 

723 

151 

153 

152 

295 

153 

397 

154 

383 

155 

246 

156 

862 

157 

593 

158 

863 

159 

187 

160 

380 

161 

688 

162 

273 

163 

848 

164 

189 

165 

514 

166 

418 

167 

659 

168 

233 

169 

121 

170 

200 

171 

765 

172 

266 

173 

277 

174 

110 

175 

207 

176 

520 

177 

99 

178 

93 

179 

314 

180 

253 

181 

416 

182 

169 

577 

183 

456 

184 

712 

185 

416 

186 

462 

187 

340 

188 

823 

189 

281 

190 

737 

191 

632 

TABLE  XYl.— Continued 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 

More  or  Less 
Eminent  than    Total  No. 
Name  Wife  of  Lines 

Bonaparte,  Carlo more  60.49 

Louis  Vin.  of  France less  ,  59.35 

Ernest  Augustus,  Elector  of  Hanover more  59.24 

Frederick  VIL  of  Denmark "  58.84 

Stahr,  Adolf  W.  T "  58.58 

Luynes,  Chas.  (Marquis  d'Albert) "  57.57 

Gasparin,  Agenor  Etienne  de "  57.01 

James  IV.  of  Scotland "  56.04 

Christian  VII.  of  Denmark "  55.91 

Stoddard,  Richard  Henry "  55.13 

William  III.  of  Holland "  55.03 

Tarquinius,  Lucius  Priscus "  54.55 

Arcadius,  Emperor  of  the  East "  54.49 

Huber,  Louis  Ferdinand "  54.42 

AU  Ibu  Abi  Talib "  54.16 

Austin,  John "  54.07 

Adalbert,  Prince  Heinrich  Wm "  52.42 

Orleans,  Philip— Due  d' less  50.22 

Orleans,  Ferdinand  Philip— Due  d' more  50.21 

Mario,  Guiseppe "  50.04 

Curie,  Pierre "  49.26 

Angouleme,  Louis  Antoine  de  Bourbon — 

Ducd' "  49.16 

Beriot,  Chas.  Auguste  de less  48.50 

Bourbon,  Antony — Duke  of  Vendome  ....     "  48.27 

Bishop,  Sir  Henry  R more  48.26 

Linton,  WiUiam  James "  48.17 

Craik,  George  Lillie "  46.62 

Avalos,  Ferdinando  d' less  45.92 

Constantius  Chlorus "  45.39 

Demidof,  Anatoh more  45.38 

Dacier,  Andre less  44.66 

Hamilton,  Sir  William "  44.54 

Philip  I.,  Archduke  of  Austria more  42.68 

Theodosius  II less  42.03 

Leclerc,  Victor  Emmanuel more  41.68 

Chilperic  I less  40.68 

Chilperic  I more  40.67 

Frederick  I.  of  Sweden "  40.60 

Ptolemy  III "  40.16 

Borghese,  Camillo "  39.16 

Ch6zy,  Antoine  L "  38.75 

Clotaire  I "  38.39 

Darius  II "  37.92 

Seymour,  Thos.  (Lord  Sudely) less  36.34 

Brassey,  Thomas  (Lord) more  36.02 

Ellis,  William "  35.95 


No.  of 

No. 

Wife 

192 

832 

193 

289 

194 

360 

195 

166 

196 

743 

197 

114 

198 

475 

199 

793 

200 

818 

201 

193 

202 

668 

203 

487 

204 

337 

205 

199 

206 

329 

207 

564 

208 

452 

209 

393 

210 

366 

211 

400 

212 

861 

213 

385 

214 

50 

215 

383 

216 

186 

217 

165 

218 

413 

219 

739 

220 

566 

221 

784 

222 

816 

223 

115 

224 

329 

225 

703 

226 

285 

227 

414 

228 

10 

229 

31 

230 

308 

231 

271 

232 

842 

233 

422 

234 

838 

235 

452 

236 

470 

237 

433 

238 

674 

MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  61 

TABLE  XVI.— Continued 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 

More  or  Less 
Eminent  than    Total  No. 
Name  Wife  of  Lines 

Joannes  IL  Commenus more  35.87 

Niemann,  Albert less  34.00 

Opie,  John "  33.81 

Devrient,  Karl  A "  33.63 

Kent,  Edward— Duke  of more  33.21 

Francesco  de  Medici less  32.57 

Ataulf,  King  of  Visigoths more  32.30 

Ptolemy  IV "  31.83 

Peter  III.  of  Aragon "  31.75 

Ferdinand,  Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg less  31.72 

Halle,  Sir  Charles more  31.61 

Bacciochi,  Felice  Pasquale "  31.08 

Adolf  Frederick  of  Sweden less  30.96 

Marcellus,  Marcus  Claudius "  30.37 

Romanus  IV.,  Diogenes "  30.21 

Brandon,  Chas.  (Duke  of  Suffolk) more  29.62 

Constantine  X.  Monomachus "  29.53 

Malcolm  III.  of  Scotland less  29.40 

Curio,  Caius  Scribonius "  29.31 

Marcian,  Flavins — Emperor  of  the  East ...    "  29.14 

Ethelbert  of  Kent more  28.97 

Stothard,  Charles  Alfred less  28.57 

Odenatus  of  PalmjTa "  28.23 

Douglas,  Count  Archibald "  28.17 

Viardot,  Louis "  27.87 

Gracchus,  Tiberius  Sempronius "  27.84 

Hugo  of  Italy  and  Aries "  27.77 

Alexis  III.— Emperor  of  the  East more  27.57 

Fusinato,  Arnaldo "  27.07 

Uchard,  Mario "  27.07 

Drusus  Csesar "  26.03 

Stu-lmg-Maxwell,  WiUiam less  25.98 

Constantine  X.  Ducas "  25.01 

Cibber,  Theophilus more  24.68 

Marcellus,  Marcus  Claudius less  24.66 

Clarke,  Charles  Cowden "  23.90 

George,  Prince  of  Denmark "  23.88 

Louis  IV.  (the  Saint) "  23.87 

Henry,  Duke  of  Mecklenberg-Schwerin  ...     "  23.60 

Ahenobarbus,  Cneius  Domitius "  23.55 

Antiochus  II.  Theos more  22.95 

Mausolus  of  Caria less  22.88 

Dieulafoy,  August  Marcel more  22.66 

Michael  IV.— Emperor  of  the  East less  22.56 

Theophilus — Emperor  of  the  East "  22.38 

Hoffmann,  Charles  Alexander "  22.29 

Andrew  III.  of  Hungary more  22.20 


62  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

TABLE  XYI.— Continued 
The  List  of  Eminent  Husbands 

More  or  Less 
No.  of                                                                         Eminent  than     Total  No. 
No.       Wife                              Name  Wife  of  Lines 

239-       634        d'Alberts,  Eugene more  22.08 

240  51        Goldschmidt,  Otto less  2L65 

241  697  Louis  II.  of  Hungary more  21.51 

242  119  Leo  IV.— Emperor  of  the  East less  21.24 

243  549  Delaunay,  Louis  Arsene "  20.82 

244  333  Bryennius,  Nicephorus "  20.38 

245  42         Francisco  de  Assis  of  Spain "  20.17 

246  555  Syphax  of  Numidia "  19.52 

247  729  Orleans,  Louis  Philip— Due  d' more  19.35 

248  175  Nicolini,  Ernest  Nicolas less  19.27 

249  611  Jagellon,  Duke  of  Lithuania "  17.90 

250  452  Romanus  III.  Argyrus "  17.81 

251  536  Clovis  II "  17.64 

252  69        Longueville,  Henri- Due  de "  17.35 

253  843        Anhelaus more  17.20 

254  855         Boleslaw  of  Poland "  16.39 

255  527        Eugene  Maurice,  Count  de  Soissons less  16.30 

256  70        Peter  I.  of  Portugal "  15.03 

257  96        Louis,  Prince  of  Tarentum "  13.50 

258  633  Igor  I.,  Grand  Duke  of  Russia "  13.26 

259  161  Seymour,  Wm.  (Duke  of  Somerset) "  13.17 

260  452  Michael  V.— Emperor  of  the  East "  12.79 

261  413  Albericus,  Duke  of  Tuscany "  12.62 

262  756  Frangois  de  Bourbon  (Prince  of  Conti) "  11.14 

263  402  Champmesl^,  Chas.  Chevillet  de "  11.08 

264  134  Carlen,  Johann  Gabriel "  10.83 

265  591  Unzelmann,  Karl  W.  T "  9.57 

266  850  Pleyel,  Joseph  E.  Camille "  9.09 

267  746  Sothern,  E.  H "  8.93 

268  83        Hakon  VIL  of  Norway "  8.68 

This  arrangement  makes  possible  some  interesting  comparisons. 
Eight  of  the  husbands,  namely,  Napoleon  I.,  Mohammed,  Julius 
Caesar,  Martin  Luther,  Alexander  the  Great,  Frederick  the  Great, 
Socrates,  and  Napoleon  III.  are  more  eminent  than  Mary  Stuart, 
the  most  distinguished  women  of  history.  Jeanne  d'Arc  and  Queen 
Victoria  are  less  eminent  than  the  poet  Shelley,  but  more  eminent 
than  the  first  Roman  Emperor,  Augustus  Caesar.  Mary  I.  of 
England  is  of  equal  eminence  with  Philip  IV.  of  France.  Rosa 
Bonheur  and  Antoninus  Pius  are  accorded  the  same  number  of  lines. 
Thirteen  eminent  women  are  less  distinguished  than  King  Hakon  of 
Norway,  the  least  eminent  of  the  husbands.  We  have  here  an 
exact  means  for  telling  whether  Robert  Browning  is  more  or  less 
eminent  than  his  gifted  wife,  and  how  much;  whether  the  joint 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  63 

sovereigns  of  England,  William  and  Mary,  are  equally  distinguished; 
whether  Cornelia,  the  mother,  and  Tiberius  Sempronius,  the 
father  of  the  Gracchi  are  equally  famous;  and  whether  Otto 
Goldschmidt  is  more  or  less  distinguished  than  Jenny  Lind.  If  the 
eminent  husbands  and  wives  were  arranged  together  in  order  of 
merit,  the  Hst  would  begin  as  follows: 

No.  Name  No.  of  Lines 

1  Napoleon  I •  •  •  .2,613.48 

2  Mohammed 1,470.04 

3  Julius  Caesar 1,168.47 

4  Luther,  Martin 1,095.07 

5  Alexander  the  Great 912.93 

6  Frederick  the  Great 840.63 

7  Socrates 776.30 

8  Napoleon  III 738.68 

9  Mary  Stuart 607.67 

10  Charles  the  Great 577.18 

11  Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe 576.65 

12  Jeanne  d'Arc 533.72 

13  Victoria  of  England 533.34 

14  Augustus  Caesar 510.34 

15  Charles  I.  of  England 503.59 

16  Louis  XIV.  of  France 453.12 

17  Schelling,  Friedrich  W.  J.  von 451.81 

18  Elizabeth  of  England 441.15 

19  William  I.  of  Germany 429.58 

20  Sand,  George 412.04 


The  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  eminent  women  who  married 
men  sufficiently  distinguished  to  be  recorded  in  three  or  more  of 
the  six  encyclopedias  used  in  selecting  our  list  of  women  were 
natives  of  thirty-one  different  nations.  France  produced  forty- 
five  or  17  per  cent,  of  these  women,  that  being  26  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  number  of  eminent  women  born  in  that  country.  The 
husbands  of  forty-one  English  women  are  included  in  the  above  list. 
This  is  23  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  eminent  women  of  English 
birth.  58  per  cent,  of  the  distinguished  women  of  the  Roman 
Empire  were  wives  of  men  in  this  list,  but  a  woman  of  Rome  had 
little  opportunity  of  becoming  eminent  except  as  the  daughter  of 
her  father  or  the  wife  of  her  husband.  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Julia 
Marlowe,  and  Ehzabeth  Drew  Stoddard  are  the  only  noteworthy 
American  women  who  married  husbands  sufficiently  eminent  to 
be  included  in  our  list. 


64 


A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


TABLE  XVII 
Eminent  Women  who  Married  Eminent  Men 


Nation 


No.  of  Cases 


France 45 

England 41 

Germany 36 

Rome 25 

Italy 15 

Spain 14 

Byzantium 11 

Austria 10 

Russia 8 

Egypt , 6 

Denmark 5 

Hungary 4 

Sweden 4 

Bavaria 3 

Poland 3 

Arabia 3 

Frankish  Empire 3 

Greece 3 

America 3 

Persia 3 

Portugal 2 

Holland 2 

Scotland 2 

Switzerland 

Visigoth 

Burgundy 

Belgium 

Thuringia 

Ireland 

Macedon 

Venezuela 

Total 259 


Per  Cent,  of  Total  Number 

of  Eminent  Women  of 

that  Nation 

26 
23 
31 
58 
25 
52 
91 
41 
40 


The  group  of  women  who  married  men  of  distinction  attained  a 
higher  degree  of  eminence  than  the  average  for  the  total  group  of 
eminent  women.  Table  XVIII.  shows  that  the  average  number  of 
lines  devoted  to  this  group  of  women  by  the  encyclopedias  is  49.6; 
the  average  number  of  lines  for  the  total  group  is  43.2. 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  65 

TABLE  XVIII 
Space  Devoted  to  Eminent  Women  who  Married  Eminent  Men 


No.  of  Lines 
-  9  99 

Case 
9 

10-19.99 

51 

20. 

.  .49 

30. 

.  43 

40. 

..32 

50 

23 

60 

11 

70 

8 

80 

7 

90 

5 

100 

4 

110 

4 

120.- 

1 

130 

1 

140 

0 

150 

0 

No.  of  Lines 

160 

Cases 
0 

170.. 

2 

180  . 

2 

190 

1 

200 

0 

210 

1 

220 

1 

230 

0 

240 

0 

250 

0 

260 

1 

270 

0 

280 

0 

290 

0 

300  + 

3 

Total 

259 

Median 34.7 

Average 49.6 

The  average  length  of  Hfe  of  this  group  is  57.9  years  which  is 
2.9  years  less  than  the  average  for  the  entire  group  (60.8). 

TABLE  XIX 

Age  at  Death  of  Eminent  Women  Who  Married  Eminent  Men 

Age  at  Death  Cases  Age  at  Death  Cases 


20-24.99 

...  7 

60. 

....  19 

25 

...  8 

65. 

....  20 

30 

...  8 

70. 

....  22 

35 

...14 

75. 

. ...  14 

40 

...14 

80. 

. ...  15 

45 

...15 

85. 

....  5 

50 

...19 

90. 

....  2 

55 

...20 

Total 

. . . .202 

Mode 

72.5 

59.0 

Average .  . . 

67.9 

Their  average  age  at  marriage  (21.8  years)  is  also  below  the 
group  average  (23.4  years). 

Age  at  Marriage  of  Eminent  Women  Who  Married  Eminent  Men 
Age  Cases  Age  Cases 

-  9.99 3  35 6 

10-14.99 17  40 4 

15 75  45 0 

20 47  50 _J. 

25 25  Total 190 

30 12 

Mode . 17.5 

Median 20.0 

Average 21.8 


66  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

This,  however,  is  to  be  expected,  since  Table  XX.  shows  that 
54  per  cent,  of  these  women  belong  to  the  groups  "Marriage," 
"Sovereign"  and  "Birth."  These  classifications  are  practically 
limited  to  the  women  of  noble  birth,  whose  marriages  are  arranged 
somewhat  earlier  than  in  the  more  democratic  ranks  of  society. 
In  other  lines  of  activity  it  has  been  chiefly  the  writers,  actresses, 
and  poHticians  who  married  men  of  equal  or  greater  eminence  than 
themselves. 

TABLE  XX 
Eminent  Women  Who  Married  Eminent  Men 

Per  Cent,  of  Total  Cases 
Occupation  No.  Cases  of  that  Occupation 

Marriage 84  96 

Literature 48  14 

Sovereign 38  64 

Birth 20  51 

Political  influence 13  68 

Actress 12  21 

Musician 10  20 

Mother 8 

Religion 8 

Scholar 5 

Tragic  fate 3 

Mistress 3 

Beauty 2 

Heroine 2 

Patron  of  learning 1 

Conjugal  fidelity 1 

Dancer 1 

Total 259 

Age  of  Marriage  Among  Eminent  Women 

The  age  at  which  459  of  the  868  eminent  women  married  has 
been  determined  and  the  distribution  given  in  the  following  table 
(No.  XXL),  which  shows  the  age  when  each  married  for  the  first 
time.  Three  of  the  women  were  married  under  ten  years;  thirty 
were  married  before  they  were  fifteen;  five  married  later  than 
fifty.  The  youngest  bride  was  Joan  of  Naples,  who  at  the  age  of 
six  was  married  to  Andrew,  Prince  of  Hungary.  The  oldest  bride 
was  Angela  Burdette-Coutts,  who  at  sixty-seven  married  Mr. 
Ashmead-Bartlett.     The  average  age  at  marriage  is  23.4  years. 

Table  XXII.  was  compiled  to  determine  whether  the  most 
eminent  women  married  early  or  late  in  life.  We  hoped  to  discover 
whether  these  women  attained  their  distinction  after  marriage, 
or  whether  marriage  had  been  postponed  until  fame  was  achieved. 
The  figures  do  not  answer  the  question  very  clearly.     They  do 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  67 

TABLE  XXI 

Age  of  Eminent  Women  at  Marriage 

Age                           No.  of  Cases  Age                           No.  of  Cases 

5-  9.99 3  40 11 

10-14.99 27  45 6 

15 158  50 3 

20 125  55 0 

25 71  60 1 

30 32  65 1 

35 21  Total 459 

Mode 17.5 

Median 21.7 

Average 23.4 

show,  however,  that  the  women  marrying  between  fifteen  and 
twenty  were  more  eminent  than  those  marrying  between  ten  and 
fifteen.  Furthermore,  the  women  marrying  between  twenty  and 
twenty-five  were  more  eminent  than  those  marrying  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty,  but  less  eminent  than  those  marrying 
between  fifteen  and  twenty.  The  women  marrying  between  twenty 
and  twenty-five  and  those  marrying  between  thirty  and  thirty-five 
were  of  equal  distinction,  and,  if  eleven  cases  are  a  sufficient  number 
on  which  to  base  a  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  the  women  marrying 
between  forty  and  forty-five  were  of  the  same  degree  of  eminence 


TABLE  XXII 

Devoted  to 

Eminent  Women  Who  Married  at 

Certa: 

;e  at  Marriage 

Average  No.  of  Lines                  No, 

.  Cases 

5-  9.99 

49.5 

3 

10-14.99 

48.0 

27 

15 

58.9 

158 

20 

44.0 

125 

25 

39.5 

71 

30 

44.0 

32 

35 

51.5 

21 

40 

68.6 

11 

45 

29.9 

6 

50 

25.7 

3 

55 

0 

60 

1 

65 

1 

as  those  marrying  between  fifteen  and  twenty.  Since  it  has  been 
as  sovereigns  that  women  have  achieved  the  highest  degree  of 
eminence  (Table  X.),  and  since  the  average  age  at  which  that 
group  of  women  have  married  is  18.9  years,  the  two  facts  cooperate 
in  this  table  with  the  result  that  the  highest  degree  of  eminence 
has  been  attained  by  women  who  married  between  fifteen  and 


68  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

twenty.  The  group  marrying  between  forty  and  forty-five  is  com- 
posed of  nine  writers,  one  singer,  and  one  actress.  Undoubtedly 
they  had  won  more  or  less  fame  before  marriage.  Twenty-nine  of 
the  thirty-two  women  who  married  between  thirty-five  and  forty- 
five  were  writers,  actresses,  musicians,  or  reformers.  There  seems, 
thus,  a  tendency  for  the  women  to  fall  into  two  groups:  those  who 
inherited  or  wedded  fame  married  early;  those  v/ho  labored  for 
eminence  married  much  later. 

Table  XXIII.  shows  a  fairly  regular  tendency  through  the 
centuries  to  postpone  marriage  from  16.2  years  in  the  twelfth 
century  to  26.2  years  in  the  nineteenth.  The  range  of  age  of  brides 
has  also  varied,  particularly  in  the  maximum  limit.  Through  the 
twelfth,  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries  no  eminent 
woman  was  married  later  than  thirty.  In  the  last  four  centuries 
the  maximum  limit  has  varied  from  forty-three  to.  sixty-seven. 
In  other  words,  we  may  say  that  the  maximum  age  of  marriage 
during  the  last  four  centuries  (19th,  18th,  17th,  16th)  averaged  53.3 
years;  for  the  preceding  four  centuries  (15th,  14th,  13th,  12th) 
it  averaged  25.8  years. 

TABLE  XXIII 
Age  at  Marriage  in  Different  Centuries 

Average  Age  at     No.  Cases  on  which  Range  of  Age  of 

Century                   Marriage           Average  is  Based  Brides 

19                             26.2                            189  15-67  years 

18                            23.1                           127  13-53 

17                            20.0                             50  13-43 

16                           21.7                      *       28  12-50 

15                            17.6                             20  13-26 

14                            13.8                              11  &-18 

13                            16.6                               5  12-29 

12                            16.2                               5  8-30 

There  is  considerable  variation  in  the  average  age  at  which 
women  of  abihty  have  married  in  different  nations.  Considering 
only  those  countries  for  which  we  have  record  of  nine  or  more  cases, 
it  is  seen  (Table  XXIV.)  that  the  average  age  at  which  American 
women  of  ability  marry  is  27.7  years,  which  is  9.3  years  later  than 
the  average  age  at  which  Russian  women  of  eminence  marry.  It  is 
of  considerable  interest  to  know  that  American  and  Scotch  women 
of  ability  marry  later  and  live  longer  than  the  eminent  women  of 
all  other  nations.  Distinguished  women  of  English  birth  marry 
three  years  younger  than  American  women,  but  1.8  years  later  than 
German,  and  3.5  years  later  than  French  women  of  ability.  The 
average  age  at  marriage  of  Italian  and  French  eminent  women  is 
practically  the  same.  MulhalP  gives  the  average  age  at  which  the 
>"  Dictionary  of  Statistics,"  4th  ed.,  1898,  p.  381. 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN  69 

women  of  eight  of  the  eleven  nations  included  in  our  Table  marry, 
if  we  may  say  that  his  figures  for  Prussia  are  comparable  with  ours 
for  Germany,  and  his  for  Vienna  with  ours  for  Austria.  The  com- 
parison seems,  at  first  sight,  to  show  that  English,  Swedish,  German, 
Italian,  French,  Austrian,  and  Russian  women  of  ability  marry 
at  an  average,  varying  from  .8  of  a  year  in  the  case  of  England  to 
6.5  years  in  the  case  of  Austria,  less  than  the  average  for  the  ordinary 
rank  and  file  of  the  women  of  those  nations.  Scottish  women  are 
an  exception.  Though  no  date  is  given,  it  is  fairly  certain  that 
Mulhall's  averages  are  based  on  compilations  made  in  recent  years, 
possibly  only  in  the  last  century.  Our  figures  extend  over  a  period 
of  twenty-six  centuries,  in  the  early  part  of  which  (see  Table  XXIII.) 

TABLE  XXIV 
Age  at  which  Eminent  Women  of  Different  Nations  Marry 

Average  Age  No.  of  Cases  on  Average  Age  at  Marriage 

at  which  Average  of  Ordinary  Women  as  given 

Marriage  is  Based  by  Mulhall 

America 27.7  35 

Scotland 27.6  12  25.7 

England 24.7  103  25.5 

Sweden 23.8  10  28.3 

Germany 22.9  67  27.1  (Prussia) 

Italy 21.3  33  25.4 

France 21.2  91  24.9 

Austria 20.5  17  27.0  (Vienna) 

Spain 19.6  16 

Rome 19.4  9 

Russia 18.4  14  21.5 

marriage  occurred  much  earher  than  in  more  recent  times.  This 
would  tend  to  lower  our  averages,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  older 
nations.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  women  of 
the  upper  classes  (meaning  in  this  instance  social  grades  exclusive 
of  the  aristocracy  where  women  have  been  shown  to  marry  com- 
paratively early  (see  Table  XXV.))  marry  later  than  those  of  the 
middle  and  lower  classes.  Mulhall's  figures  undoubtedly  apply 
chiefly  to  these  latter  groups,  but  the  eminent  women,  if  not  of 
aristocratic  birth,  are  in  the  majority  of  cases  drawn  from  the 
ilpper  classes  (see  Table  XXXVI.  showing  occupation  of  fathers). 
In  view  of  these  conflicting  factors  perhaps  the  only  comparison 
that  can  be  made  between  the  two  sets  of  averages  is  that  the 
women  of  abihty  marry  younger  than  the  women  of  the  class  to 
which  they  belong.  Indeed,  even  this  comparison  may  be  so 
vitiated  by  the  influence  of  the  extensive  period  of  time  above 
referred  to,  as  to  render  it  unjust. 


70  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

The  average  age  at  which  eminent  women  engaged  in  thirteen 
different  activities  married,  is  shown  in  the  following  table.  Though 
we  have  record  of  only  five  reformers  we  feel  fairly  confident  that 
the  group  is  justly  placed.  Only  a  few  American  women  of  the 
nineteenth  century  have  achieved  eminence  as  social  reformers; 
but  American  women  of  ability  marry  later  than  those  of  any  other 
nation,  and  the  average  age  at  marriage  in  the  nineteenth  century 
is  later  than  in  any  other  period  of  history.  The  fact  that  musicians 
marry  3.1  years  later  than  actresses,  and  4.4  years  later  than  artists, 
seems  to  indicate  that,  in  many  instances,  marriage  was  postponed 
until  a  musical  reputation  had  been  won.  The  women  who  inher- 
ited or  wedded  their  right  to  eminence,  that  is,  the  members  of  the 
groups  "Marriage,"  "Sovereign,"  and  "Birth"  married  earliest; 
where  the  cases  are  sufficiently  numerous  to  justify  a  conclusion  it 
seems  that  the  women  who  have  won  by  personal  effort  their  right 
to  distinction — the  actresses,  writers,  musicians,  and  reformers — 
married  several  years  later. 

TABLE  XXV 

Age  at  Marriage  by  Occupation 

Average  Age  No.  Cases  on  which 

at  Marriage  Average  is  Based 

Reformer 27.4  5 

Music 26.7  35 

Mistress 26.4  7 

Literature 25.7  180 

Actress 23.6  32 

ReUgion 22.4  14 

Artist 22.3  6 

Scholar 21.3  8 

Political  influence 19.5  14 

Mother 19.3  6 

Birth 19.3  24 

Sovereign 18.9  40 

Marri  ge 18.8  62 

Eminent  Women  Who  Married  More  Than  Once 
520  of  the  eminent  women  are  known  to  have  married  once, 
89  married  twice,  21  married  three  times,  and  Catharine  Parr, 
Joan  I.  of  Naples,  Jacqueline  of  Holland,  Lola  Montez,  and  Zoe  II. 
were  each  married  four  times.  The  women  who  married  more  than 
once  became  eminent  in  fifteen  different  lines  of  activity,  but  the 
greater  number  were  writers,  musicians,  actresses,  politicians, 
sovereigns,  and  women  recorded  under  "Marriage"  and  "Birth." 
Though  the  numbers  are  small,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  42  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  group  of  women  who  became  eminent  because  of  political 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  71 

influence  or  ability,  were  married  more  than  once.     30.6  per  cent, 
of  the  total  group  of  musicians  had  more  than  one  husband. 

TABLE  XXVI 
Eminent  Women  Married  More  than  Once 

Per  Cent,  of  the  Total  Group 
Occupation  No.  of  Cases  of  that  Occupation 

Literature 41  12.1 

Music 15  30.6 

Marriage 14  16.0 

Actress 9  16.0 

Political  influence 8  42.1 

Birth 8  20.5 

Sovereign 6  ■  10.1 

Beauty 3 

Mother 2 

Artist 2 

Adventuress 

Religion 

Heroine 

Scholar , 

Tragic  fate 


Divorce 

In  connection  with  marriage  we  can  scarcely  avoid  the  subject  of 
divorce.  My  statistics  in  this  field,  however,  are  incomplete.  It 
is  probable  that  many  more  instances  of  divorce  occurred  than  are 
recorded  in  the  encyclopedias  or  sources  to  which  I  have  had  access. 
Under  divorce  I  have  included  separation,  even  though  the  marriage 
was  not  legally  dissolved.  This  is  unsatisfactory,  in  that  it  affords 
no  basis  for  comparison  with  other  divorce  statistics.  But  in  view 
of  the  scanty  information  obtainable,  I  have,  for  the  present, 
grouped  together  all  known  cases  where  marriage  was  so  unsatis- 
factory that  it  was  dissolved,  either  with  or  without  the  consent  of 
the  law. 

Counting  the  number  of  first,  second,  third  and  fourth  mar- 
riages, the  total  number  of  unions  is  781.  I  have  found  that  49  or 
6.2  per  cent,  of  these  unions  resulted  in  divorce;  in  42  additional 
instances  it  was  a  matter  of  public  knowledge  that  the  husband  and 
wife  had  separated.  Undoubtedly  divorce  followed  in  some  cases. 
Of  the  781  marriages  contracted  by  eminent  women,  11.6  per  cent, 
are  thus  seen  to  have  ended  disastrously.  One  empress,  one  writer 
and  two  musicians  have  each  been  divorced  twice.  Of  the  91 
women  who  separated  from  their  husbands,  either  legally  or  not, 
19  were  daughters  of  the  nobility,  12  were  queens  or  empresses,  31 
were  writers,  12  actresses,  10  musicians;  four  were  noted  because  of 
their  religion;  one  was  a  dancer,  one  a  traveler,  and  one  a  scholar. 


72  A  STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

I  have  tried  to  discover  whether  divorce  has  been  more  or  less 
frequent  when  the  husband  and  wife  have  been  engaged  in  the  same 
occupation,  than  when  their  interests  were  more  or  less  diverse. 
I  hoped  to  learn  whether  a  singer  has  been  more  apt  to  run  into 
matrimonial  shipwreck  if  she  married  a  composer  than  if  she  chose 
a  lawyer  for  a  husband.  Has  it  been  safer  for  a  literary  woman  to 
marry  a  scholar  or  a  banker?  My  table  is  not  very  conclusive, 
owing  to  the  small  number  of  cases  in  each  occupation.  But  in 
so  far  as  the  figures  warrant  a  conclusion,  it  seems  to  be  shown 
that  artists  and  musicians  are  safer  matrimonially  when  married 
to  men  whose  interests  are  in  fields  different  from  their  own.  In 
other  words,  it  is  better  when  the  husband  and  wife  are  not  both 
engaged  in  an  activity  which  is  controlled  by  temperament  and 
inspiration  rather  than  by  reason.  In  the  case  of  actresses  the 
percentage  of  divorce  is  just  the  same  when  the  husband  is  an  actor 
as  when  he  is  engaged  in  some  other  occupation.  With  writers, 
the  divorce  ratio  is  slightly  smaller  when  the  husband  is  a  literary 
man. 

TABLE  XXVII 

Occupation  of                Per  Cent,  of  Divorce  when  Per  Cent,  of  Divorce  when 

Eminent                       Husband  is  Engaged  in  Husband  is  Engaged  in  a 

Women                       same  Occupation  as  Wife  Different  Occupation 

Artist 20  (5)1  00  (2) 

Actress 27  (18)  27  (in 

Scholar 00  (5)  00  (4) 

Musician 28  (25)  00  (9) 

Literature 12  (51)  18  (120) 

Twenty  of  the  divorced  women  (not  repeating  those  who  were 
divorced  twice)  were  German,  17  French,  16  English,  7  Italian, 
7  Roman,  4  Russian,  3  American,  2  Austrian,  2  Danish,  2  Spanish, 
1  Norwegian,  1  Bohemian,  1  Venezuelan,  1  Scotch,  1  Hungarian, 
1  Macedonian,  and  1  Thuringian.  It  is  barely  possible  that 
Germany  leads  in  this  list,  not  because  of  actual  conditions,  but 
because  the  German  encyclopedias  are  more  inclined  to  give  details 
of  domestic  life  than  are  those  of  other  nations.  The  German 
divorce  rate,  however,  is  known  to  be  high.  Though  much  is  said 
about  the  alarming  increase  of  the  rate  of  divorce  in  America,  it 
does  not  hold  in  the  case  of  eminent  women. 

» The  number  in  parentheses  is  the  number  upon  which  the  percentage  of 
divorce  is  based.  Thus,  five  eminent  artists  married  men  who  were  artists. 
One  divorce  resulted,  giving  a  percentage  of  20.  Fifty-one  writers  married 
literary  men;  six  divorces  followed,  the  rate  per  cent,  being  12.  On  the  other 
hand,  one  hundred  twenty  writers  married  men  who  were  not  literary,  and 
seventeen  of  the  unions  were  dissolved,  thus  giving  a  divorce  rate  of  18  per  cent. 


MARRIAGE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  73 

Royal  divorces  are  recorded  as  remote  as  the  fourth  century 
before  Christ.  Eminent  women  not  of  noble  birth  have  obtained 
divorces  only  in  the  last  three  centuries.  Evidently  divorce  has, 
until  recent  times,  been  a  privilege  of  the  aristocracy,  or  else  it 
has  been  an  impossibility  for  a  divorced  woman  not  of  noble  extrac- 
tion to  attain  eminence. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Length  of  Life  of  Eminent  Women 

Average  Age  at  Death 

It  has  been  impossible  to  discover  at  what  age  these  women 
became  eminent,  but  in  670  cases  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  the 
age  at  death.  Table  XXVIII.  gives  in  full  the  age  distribution  and 
Fig.  6  represents  it  graphically.  Both  ends  of  the  curve  are  inter- 
esting.    Nine  women  died  before  they  were  twenty;  nineteen  Hved 


45      60      05      60     65      TO     73      SO     85      OO     05  YCOTS 

Fig.  6.     Length  of  Life  of  Eminent  Women. 

to  be  over  ninety.  The  average  age  of  the  group  is  60.8  years. 
232  eminent  women  died  before  they  were  fifty-five,  and  233  lived 
to  be  more  than  seventy.  Galton^  found  a  tendency  for  his  curve 
to  be  multimodal  and  concluded  "that  among  the  gifted  men 
there  is  a  small  class  who  have  weak  and  excitable  constitutions, 
who  are  destined  to  early  death,  but  that  the  remainder  consists 
of  men  likely  to  enjoy  a  vigorous  old  age."  The  rise  in  the  curve  for 
eminent  women  during  the  twenties  and  again  in  the  early  forties 
is  based  on  such  a  small  number  of  cases  that,  although  they 
tend  to  indicate  a  small  group  of  weakly  constituted  women  we 

'  "Hereditary  Genius,"  1869,  p.  332. 
74 


LENGTH  OF  LIFE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  75 

are  not  justified  in  concluding  that  these  were  particularly  pre- 
carious periods. 

TABLE  XXVIII 

Age  of  Eminent  Women  at  Death 

Age  at  Death  No.  of  Cases  Age  at  Death  No.  of  Cases 

-14.99 2  55 56 

15-19.99 7  60 68 

20 15  65 81 

25 24  70 77 

30 20  75 58 

35 32  80 56 

40 46  85 23 

45 39  90 18 

50 47  95 _J 

670 

Median 63.5 

Mode 67,5 

Average 60.8 

According  to  Their  Degree  of  Eminence 

If  Mr.  Ellis^  is  correct  in  saying  that  eminent  men  "live  a  long 
time  for  the  excellent  reason  that  they  must  live  a  long  time  or 
they  never  will  become  eminent,"  does  it  follow  that  the  most  emi- 
nent women  are  longer  lived  than  the  less  eminent?  To  ascertain 
this,  I  divided  the  list  into  three  nearly  equal  groups.  Group  I. 
contained  numbers  1  to  289  inclusive,  the  number  designating  the 
position  of  the  woman  in  the  order  of  merit  in  the  complete  list. 
Group  II.  contained  numbers  290  to  579  inclusive;  Group  III. 
included  numbers  580  to  868.  When  the  living  women  were 
eliminated  and  those  for  whom  exact  dates  of  birth  and  death  were 
not  obtainable,  the  number  of  women  in  Group  I.  was  reduced  to 
250,  in  Group  II.  to  223,  and  in  Group  III.  to  197.  Table  XXIX. 
gives  the  age  distribution  for  the  three  groups.  It  is  quite  clearly 
shown  that  while  there  is  no  distinction  between  the  most  eminent 
and  less  eminent  groups,  the  women  who  comprised  these  two 
classes  were,  on  the  average  more  than  three  years  longer  Hved  than 
the  women  in  the  least  eminent  group.  The  average  age  for  Group 
I.  is  61.7  years,  and  the  median  is  64.3;  for  Group  II.  the  average 
is  61.6,  and  the  median  64.2;  for  Group  III.  the  average  is  58.4,  and 
the  median  61.4. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  in  a  number  of  instances  the  data  are 
too  meager  to  be  reliable,  it  seemed  worth  while  to  compute  the 
average  age  of  the  eminent  women  for  the  different  centuries. 
The  results  are  shown  in  Table  XXX.     It  was  impossible  to  ascer- 

2  "A  Study  of  British  Genius,"  1904,  p.  173. 


76  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

tain  the  exact  age  in  most  cases  of  those  living  in  the  pre-Christian 
era,  and  for  the  first  and  second  centuries  after  Christ  I  have 
only  three  cases  each,  but  the  tendency  is  to  show  that  in  this 
early  period  the  eminent  women  died  early.  The  martyr's  block 
has  left  its  record  in  the  third  century,  the  average  age  based 
on  seven  cases  being  only  28.2  years.  Saint  Helena  escaped  a 
violent  death  and  lived  to  be  77.  If  her  case  were  excluded,  the 
average  age  for  the  century  would  be  20.1  years.  During  the 
fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  the  average  length  of  life  seems 

TABLE  XXIX 

Variation  in  Length  of  Life  According  to  the  Degree  of  Eminence 
Achieved  by  the  Women 

Age  Cases  in  Group  I  Group  II  Group  III 

-14.99 0  1  1 

15-19.99 2  0  5 

20 5  4  6 

25 8  9  7 

30 8  5  7 

35 13  11  8 

40 18  18  10 

45 8  14  17 

50 17  15  15 

55 23  16  17 

60 27  22  19 

65 34  22  25 

70 26  28  23 

75 21  21  16 

80 17  23  16 

85 14  8  1 

90 8  6  4 

95 1  0  0 

Group  I  Group  II  Group  III 

Mode 67.5  72.5  67.5 

Median 64.3  64.2  61.4 

Average 61.7  61.6  58.4 

to  have  been  longer.  For  the  remainder  of  the  Middle  Ages  the 
figures  are  so  meager  as  to  render  them  valueless,  but  from  the 
fourteenth  century  on  the  numbers  are  sufficiently  large  to  at  least 
represent  a  tendency.  The  average  age  of  these  eminent  women  at 
death  in  the  fourteenth  century  was  48.7  years;  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  49.3  years;  in  the  sixteenth  century,  49.8  years;  in  the 
seventeenth  century  the  average  was  increased  to  60.6  years; 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  64.1  years;  in  the  nineteenth 
century  the  average  length  of  life  of  eminent  women  was  62.7  years. 
This,  however,  is  not  a  final  figure  for  those  of  this  century  who  are 


LENGTH  OF  LIFE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 


77 


to  be  the  longest  lived  and  who  will  tend  to  increase  this  average 
are  yet  living.  It  is  probable  that  these  averages  have  no  special 
relation  to  eminent  women,  but  they  seem  to  show  that  the  advance- 
ment of  civilization  with  the  increased  knowledge  of  hygiene  and  the 
art  of  living,  together  with  the  modern  development  of  medicine 
and  surgery,  have  cooperated  to  make  it  more  probable  that  the 
days  of  woman  will  be  prolonged  to  three  score  years  and  ten. 


78  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

TABLE  XXX 
Average  Age  of  Eminent  Women  in  Different  Centuries 


Average  Age  of 

No.  of  Cases  on  which 

Century 

Eminent  Women 

Average  is  Based 

lA.D. 

32.3  years 

3 

2 

44.6 

3 

3 

28.2 

7 

4 

53.5 

4 

5 

61.7 

7 

6 

56.8 

5 

7 

50.0 

6 

8 

51.0 

1 

9 

57.0 

1 

10 

70.0 

3 

11 

62.2 

7 

12 

57.1 

8 

13 

53.5 

7 

14 

48.7 

14 

15 

49.3 

29 

16 

49.8 

45 

17 

60.6 

83 

18 

64.1 

210 

19 

62.7 

218 

According  to  Occupation 
It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  women  who  have  been  engaged 
in  social  service,  the  reformers  and  philanthropists,  were  the 
longest  hved.  The  average  age  of  the  artists  is  66.7  years,  and  of 
the  actresses  64.5  years.  In  addition  to  these,  the  writers,  scholars, 
politicians,  and  mothers  all  lived  to  an  average  age  exceeding  that 
for  the  entire  group  of  868  (60.8  years).  The  musicians  average 
58.4  years;  those  famous  by  birth,  as  sovereigns,  mistresses,  in 
religion,  and  by  marriage,  all  average  less  than  the  group  average. 

TABLE  XXXI 
Average  Age  of  Eminent  Women  in  Different  Occupations 

No.  of  Cases  on  which 

Occupation              Average  Age  Average  is  Based 

Reformer 79.1  8 

Philanthropist 70.8  11 

Artist 66.7  14 

Actress 64.5  42 

Literature 64.3  269 

Scholar 63.4  17 

Political  influence 62.9  16 

Motherhood 62.6  8 

Music 58.4  28 

Birth 54.5  28 

Sovereign 54.5  47 

Mistress 54.4  22 

Religion 54.1  48 

Marriage 52.4  66 


LENGTH  OF  LIFE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  79 

Since  the  writers  form  the  most  numerous  group,  it  seemed  of 
interest  to  determine  the  average  length  of  hfe  of  those  of  English, 
French,  German,  and  American  birth  during  the  last  three  centuries. 
Table  XXXII.  gives  these  records,  the  figures  in  parentheses  indi- 
cating the  number  of  cases  on  which  the  average  is  based. 

TABLE  XXXII 

Average  Age  of  Writers 

17th  Century  18th  Century  19th  Century 

England 58.1  (7)  70.5  (42)  59.5  (42) 

France 62.1  (13)  61.9  (16)  66.9  (13) 

Germany 66.4  (24)  62.5  (20) 

America 62.2  (28) 

It  is  seen  that  American  and  German  writers  of  the  last  century- 
lived  to  practically  the  same  age;  English  writers  died  earher,  and 
French  later.  Through  three  centuries,  conditions  in  France  and 
England  have  been  reversed.  An  interesting  investigation  would 
be  to  discover  whether  the  degree  of  eminence  attained  by  the  more 
vigorous  writers  of  England  in  the  eighteenth  century  exceeded  that 
attained  by  those  of  lesser  physical  stamina  in  the  nineteenth. 

According  to  Nationality 
American  women  of  ability  are  noticeably  longer  lived  than 
those  of  any  other  nation.  They  have  lived  a  decade  longer  than 
the  women  of  Ireland,  and  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  longer 
than  the  women  of  Rome.  The  following  table  (No.  XXXIII.) 
gives  the  average  age  at  death  for  the  women  of  the  leading  nations. 
In  addition  to  the  American,  the  Scotch,  German,  Austrian,  and 

TABLE  XXXIII 

Average  Age  of  Eminent  Women  of  Different  Nations 

Average  Age  No.  of  Cases  on  which 

Nation                          at  Death  Average  is  Based 

America 67.6  54 

Scotland 64.8  18 

Germany 64.1  89 

Austria 62.5  17 

England 61.2  152 

Byzantium 59.8  9 

France 59.7  153 

Sweden 58.4  12 

Holland 58.2  8 

Italy 58.1  47 

Ireland 57.8  8 

Spain 55.0  19 

Russia 46.1  17 

Rome 43.6  21 


80  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

English  women  of  distinction  have  Uved  to  more  than  60.8  years, 
the  average  for  the  entire  group.  The  women  of  Byzantium, 
France,  Sweden,  Holland,  Italy,  Ireland,  Spain,  Russia,  and  Rome 
have  failed  to  attain  this  average. 

Table  XXXIV.  shows  the  average  age  at  death  of  eminent 
women  during  the  last  three  centuries  for  those  nations  which  have 
produced  the  greatest  number.  Where  the  number  of  cases  is 
sufficient  to  warrant  conclusions,  the  most  interesting  results  are 
that  French  women  of  ability  were  considerably  longer  lived  in  the 
nineteenth  century  than  in  the  eighteenth.  This  may  be  explained 
in  part  by  the  use  of  the  guillotine  during  the  years  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, when  six  eminent  women  aged  respectively  25,  30,  38,  39,  43 
and  47  were  executed.  In  England,  the  average  length  of  life  in 
the  eighteenth  century  was  fourteen  years  more  than  in  the  seven- 
teenth. We  question  whether  the  completed  record  for  the  nine- 
teenth century  will  raise  the  average  in  the  case  of  English  women  to 
that  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  only  important  instance 
where  the  average  for  American  women  of  the  nineteenth  century 
has  been  reached  by  any  nation  was  that  of  the  English  women  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 

TABLE  XXXIV 
Average  Age  of  Eminent  Women  at  Death 

17th  Century            18th  Century  19th  Century 

England 55.0  (16)                   69.0  (58)  60.9  (59) 

France 61.7  (35)                    60.5  (54)  64.7  (30) 

Germany 66.0  (5)                      64.6  (45)  63.7  (32) 

Italy 64.0(7)                     70.0(7)  58.3(10) 

America 51.5  (2)                     77.1  (6)  67.1  (46) 

Eminent  Women  Who  Suffered  Violent  or  Unnatural  Deaths 
Sixty-two  or  7  per  cent,  of  the  eminent  women  of  history  are 
known  to  have  suffered  violent  or  unnatural  deaths.  This  bloody 
chapter  has  been  long  drawn  out.  Beginning  with  the  tragic  fate 
of  the  Roman  girl,  Lucretia,  in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ, 
there  are  representatives  in  nineteen  of  the  succeeding  centuries, 
see  Table  XXXV. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  to  trace  any  change  of  attitude  on  this 
subject  through  the  centuries  unless  it  is  the  fact  that  no  eminent 
woman  has  been  put  to  death  by  her  husband  since  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  might  also  be  just  to  consider  the  record  for  the 
nineteenth  century — two  cases  of  accidental  drowning,  one  of 
poisoning,  the  shooting  of  the  Greek  heroine,  Bobolina,  the  murder 
of  Alexandrine  Tinne  by  the  natives  of  Africa,  and  the  assassination 
of  Empress  Elizabeth  Amelie  Eugenie  of  Austria — as  more  merciful 


LENGTH  OF  LIFE  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN  81 

than  that  of  the  six  victims  of  the  French  Revolution  in  the  previous 
century. 

The  Roman  Empire  contributed  nineteen  of  this  group  of 
women,  France  eight,  England  and  Greece  each  six,  Italy  five, 
Germany,  America,  Egypt,  and  Holland  two  each,  and  Bavaria, 
Spain,  Austria,  Scotland,  Bohemia,  Persia,  Briton,  Macedon, 
Wales,  and  the  Visigoths  one  each.  The  American  women  included 
in  this  list  are  Anne  Hutchinson  who  was  murdered  by  the  Indians, 
and  Sarah  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli  who  perished  at  sea. 

TABLE  XXXV 

Eminent  Women  Who  Suffered  Violent  or  Unnatural  Deaths 

Century                     No.  of  Cases  Century                     No.  of  Cases 

6  B.C 1  7 1 

5 2  9 1 

4 1  13 1 

3 2  14 2 

1 1  15 4 

lA.D 5  16 9 

2 1  17 2 

3 13  18 6 

4 3  19 _6 

6 1  Total 62 

Neither  rank  nor  ability  has  insured  woman  her  life  in  the 
face  of  adverse  circumstances.  Fifteen  queens  or  empresses,  in- 
cluding Mary  Stuart,  the  most  eminent  woman  of  history,  and 
Hypatia,  the  most  eminent  scholar,  have  been  executed  or  murdered. 
Saint  Agnes,  at  thirteen,  and  Brunhilde,  Regent  of  the  Frankish 
Empire,  at  seventy-nine,  mark  the  age  limits  at  which  eminent 
women  have  been  sent  to  death. 

A  review  of  this  chapter  in  the  history  of  eminent  women  im- 
presses upon  us  the  pertinency  of  the  point  of  view  held  by  the 
woman  who  replied  to  Napoleon's  remark  that  women  had  no  need 
to  know  anything  of  politics,  that  they  at  least  had  a  right  to  know 
why  their  heads  were  cut  off.  A  large  number  of  these  sixty-two 
deaths  were  accomplished  by  the  efficient  method  of  decapitation. 

In  addition  to  this  list  of  martyrs,  five  cases  of  suicide  are 
recorded.  Two  were  German  poets,  one  a  Roman  matron,  the 
British  queen,  Boadicea,  and  Cleopatra,  the  famous  queen  of  Egypt. 


CHAPTER   V 

Relationship  Among  Eminent  Women 

Comparison  of  the  Occupations  of  Eminent  Women  and  Those  of 
Their  Fathers 

One  of  the  most  important  problems  on  which  a  study  such  as 
ours  might  be  expected  to  throw  Hght  is,  whether  abilitj^  exhibited 
by  this  group  of  women  in  various  activities  reappeared  in  succeed- 
ing, or  had  appeared  in  previous  generations.  Our  research  does 
not  presume  to  answer  this  question  fully  at  the  present  time.  Two 
tables  have  been  prepared,  however,  one  showing  the  ratio  of 
similarity  between  the  occupation  of  the  eminent  woman  and  that 
of  her  father  in  the  217  cases  in  which  such  facts  have  been  learned; 
and  a  second,  showing  the  instances  of  relationship  between  the 
eminent  women.  From  both  these  tables,  women  of  aristocratic 
birth  have  been  excluded. 

TABLE  XXXVI 

Comparison  of  Occupations  of  Eminent  Women  with  Those  of  Their 
Fathers 
No.  of 
Occupation  of  Father  Cases  Eminent  Daughters 

Clergy 29  21  writers;  3  religion. 

Scholar  or  teacher 22  13  writers;  8  scholars. 

Merchant 22  17  writers;  2  philanthropists. 

Army  and  Navy 21  14  writers;  3  actresses. 

Government  official 19  12  writers;  2  mistresses. 

Musician 16  9  musicians;  3  writers;  2  actresses. 

Writer 15  14  writers;  1  musician. 

Physician 14  10  writers. 

Actor 13  8  actresses;  3  writers;  2  singers. 

Artist 9  5  artists;  3  writers. 

Tradesman 8 

Lawyer 7 

Farmer 5 

Banker 4 

Un.skilled 4 

Politician 3 

Civil  engineer 2 

Inventor 2 

Dancer 1 

Reformer 1 

Total 217 

82 


RELATIONSHIP  AMONG  EMINENT  WOMEN  83 

Seventy-two  or  33.1  per  cent,  of  the  217  fathers  of  the  eminent 
women  belonged  to  the  so-called  learned -professions — medicine, 
teaching,  law,  and  the  ministry.  In  view  of  the  limited  advantages 
for  higher  education  that  have  until  recently  been  open  to  women, 
it  is  to  be  expected  that  more  of  the  daughters  of  clergymen  and 
professors  would  become  writers  and  scholars,  than  those  brought 
up  in  homes  where  libraries  were  less  apt  to  be  found,  or  paternal 
instruction  or  encouragement  to  be  given.  Table  XXXVI.  tends 
to  show  that  an  eminent  daughter  is  more  apt  than  not  to  become 
distinguished  in  a  line  of  work  similar  to  that  of  her  father.  For 
example,  in  the  case  of  sixteen  fathers  who  were  musicians,  nine  of 
their  daughters  who  achieved  fame  were  also  musicians,  and  two 
were  in  the  closely  related  field  of  acting.  Of  fifteen  fathers  who 
were  literary  men,  fourteen  of  their  eminent  daughters,  or  93.3  per 
cent.,  were  also  writers. 

Relationship  Between  Emine7it  Women 
Table  XXXVII.  summarizes  the  cases  of  relationship  that  have 
been  discovered  among  those  of  the  868  eminent  women  not  of 
aristocratic  extraction. 

TABLE  XXXVII 

Relationships  of  Eminent  Women 

No.  Instances    No.  Instances  No.  Instances 
of  Same             of  Similar  of  Different 
Relationship                               Occupation         Occupation  Occupation 
Great-great-grandmother     and     great- 
great-granddaughter  1 

Grandmother  and  granddaughter 3  1 

Mother  and  daughter 3                       4  1 

Aunt  and  niece 4                       2  1 

Sister  and  sister 15                       2  i_ 

Total 25                      8  5 

More  than  half  of  the  thirty-eight  instances  of  relationship 
occur  in  the  first  generation  between  sister  and  sister.  The  Bronte 
family  is  the  only  instance  where  three  sisters  became  sufficiently 
eminent  to  be  included  in  our  list.  They  were  all  writers.  Fifteen 
cases  of  relationship  occur  in  the  second  generation,  eight  between 
mother  and  daughter,  and  seven  between  aunt  and  niece.  In  the 
third  generation  there  are  four  cases;  and  in  the  fifth  generation, 
one  case.  The  figures  show  a  marked  tendency  for  the  woman  in 
the  younger  generation  to  become  eminent  in  the  same,  or  closely 
alhed  line  of  activity  as  that  in  which  her  eminent  relative  won 
distinction.  By  closely  allied  activity,  I  refer  to  such  occupations 
as  music  and  the  stage,  or  literature  and  scholarship.     There  are 


84  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

a  number  of  instances  of  relationship  in  the  male  line  which  are 
not  recorded  in  this  table,  since  it  seemed  best  to  omit  them  until  a 
complete  study  of  the  fathers  and  sons  of  the  eminent  women  has 
been  made.  Both  the  father  and  mother  of  Georgina  Craik  are 
included  in  our  list  of  eminent  women  and  husbands;  the  daughter 
and  her  parents  were  all  writers.  Mary  Shelley  seems  to  be  the 
only  woman  whose  mother,  father,  and  husband  were  all  of  equal 
or  greater  eminence  than  herself.  The  four  achieved  their  fame 
in  literature. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Contemporary  Eminent  Women 

An  interesting  and  suggestive  group  for  consideration  is  tliat  of 
the  contemporary  eminent  women.  Of  those  there  are  107.  The 
number  may  not  be  accurate,  but  after  resorting  to  all  known  means 
of  discovering  the  date  of  death,  and  excluding  any  one  born  earlier 
than  1822  though  no  record  of  death  was  obtained,  the  inaccuracy 
is  insufficient  to  interfere  with  our  present  purpose.     The  first 

TABLE  XXXVIII 
Table  of  Contemporary  Eminent  Women 


England 16  1       3     —    —  —  —  1  —  1—  —  22 

America 7  4       5     —    —  —  1  —  —  —  1  —  18 

Germany 12  4       ii—  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  18 

France 5  3       4     —    —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  12 

Italy 3  111—  —  —  —  —  —  —  1  7 

Austria 3  2     —     —      1  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  6 

Sweden 2  2     —    —    —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  4 

Holland _  —    _—     2       i—  —  —  —  —  —  3 

Spain 2  —    —    —     1—  —  —  —  —  —  —  3 

Hungary 1  1     —    —    —      1  —  —  —  —  3 

Russia —  —    —     2      —  —  —  —  —  2 

Poland 1  __    —    —  _  —  —  1  —  _—  2 


Denmark —  — 

Canada —  1 

Venezuela —  1 

Belgium —  — 

Roumania 1  — 

Scotland 1  — 

Norway 1  — 


Total 55    20     14     6      4      2      1       1       1       1       1       1     10 

item  of  interest  is  that  this  group  is  so  large.  12.3  per  cent,  of  the 
eminent  women  of  history  are  living  at  the  time  this  study  is  made. 
It  required  over  twenty-five  hundred  years  to  produce  the  remaining 
87.7  per  cent.  This  group  represents  nineteen  nationalities,  and 
twelve  hnes  of  activity.  England,  with  twenty-two  cases,  leads 
in  the  number  of  eminent  women  of  the  present  generation;  Ger- 

85 


86  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

many  and  America  each  claim  eighteen;  France  follows  with 
twelve;  then  Italy  with  seven,  Austria  six,  Sweden  four,  Holland, 
Spain,  and  Hungary,  three  each;  Russia  two,  Poland  two;  Denmark, 
Canada,  Venezuela,  Belgium,  Roumania,  Scotland,  and  Norway 
one  each.  Canada  and  Venezuela  are  represented  for  the  first 
time  in  history  in  the  present  generation. 

In  the  Old  World  it  is  probable  that  woman  will  always  be  able 
to  acquire  fame  with  the  wedding  ring,  and  to  reign  as  a  sovereign, 
thus  being  assured  a  place  in  history.  If  we  eliminate  those  two 
groups,  the  fields  in  which  contemporary  women  are  acquiring  emi- 
nence are,  in  spite  of  greater  social  and  educational  advantages 
and  freedom  from  restriction  in  many  lines,  limited  to  three. 
Fifty-five  women  or  51.4  per  cent,  of  the  group  are  writers;  twenty 
or  18.7  per  cent,  are  musicians;  fourteen  are  actresses.  We  wish 
that  we  might  not  have  found  Jane  Addams  working  alone  in  the 
great  field  of  social  reform,  and  that  Madame  Curie  might  not 
have  been  the  only  scientist  of  her  generation.  In  America,  where 
women  enjoy  greater  freedom  and  opportunity  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  globe,  there  is  little  evidence  of  any  special  results  of 
these  advantages.  The  generation  and  nation  are  proud  of  the 
achievements  of  Helen  Keller,  but  it  might  be  expected  that  our 
great  educational  institutions  would  produce  feminine  scholars  and 
teachers  of  great  ability.  Possibly  they  are  in  our  midst,  but 
like  the  prophets  of  old,  are  without  honor  in  their  own  generation 
as  well  as  their  own  country. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Conclusions 

We  may  summarize  briefly  the  results  of  our  study  of  this 
impartially  selected  list  of  eminent  women  as  follows: 

They  are  distributed  through  twenty-six  centuries,  from  the 
seventh  before  Christ  to  the  nineteenth  after  Christ  inclusive, 
but  81.6  per  cent,  of  them  belong  to  the  last  five  centuries,  and 
63.1  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  were  born  in  the  last  two  hundred 
years.  The  women  who  attained  the  highest  degree  of  eminence 
lived  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  women  were  natives  of  forty-two  different  countries;  178 
were  of  English  birth;  170  French;  and  114  German.  33  of  the  75 
American  women  of  ability  were  born  in  the  New  England  States. 
The  degree  of  merit  won  by  French  women  exceeds  that  of  Enghsh 
women,  which  is,  in  turn,  greater  than  that  obtained  by  the  women 
of  German  birth.  American  women  rank  below  the  average  of  merit 
for  the  entire  group. 

The  868  women  achieved  fame  in  twenty-nine  different  lines  of 
activity,  but  38.8  per  cent,  of  the  total  group  were  writers. 

Actresses  date  from  the  seventeenth  century.  Musicians, 
reformers,  dancers,  educators,  travelers,  and  physicians  are  products 
of  the  last  two  hundred  years. 

English  women  have  won  distinction  chiefly  as  writers;  French, 
as  writers  and  actresses;  German,  as  writers,  and  through  marriage; 
American  women  have  been  noted  principally  as  writers  and 
reformers;  Italian  women  are  most  numerous  in  the  groups  "Liter- 
ature," "Music"  and  "Religion."  Spain  and  Russia  are  equally 
famous  for  their  sovereigns;  Austrian  women  are  most  frequent  in 
the  groups  "Literature,"  "Marriage"  and  "Music."  Swedish, 
Scotch,  Irish  and  Dutch  women  are  famed  chiefly  as  writers. 
Stating  the  same  facts  in  another  way,  we  may  say  that  England  has 
furnished  more  writers  than  any  other  nation;  France  more  actresses, 
mistresses,  and  pohticians;  Italy  and  Germany,  more  musicians; 
America,  all  the  reformers;  and  Rome  most  of  the  martyrs. 

It  has  been  as  sovereigns,  politicians,  mothers,  and  mistresses 
that  women  have  acquired  the  greatest  distinction. 

635  of  the  eminent  women  are  known  to  have  married  one  or 
more  times,  the  average  age  at  the  time  of  the  first  marriage  being 

23.4  years. 

87 


88  A   STATISTICAL  STUDY  OF  EMINENT  WOMEN 

The  142  unmarried  eminent  women  can  not  be  said  to  have 
won  greater  eminence  than  those  who  married;  their  average  length 
of  Hfe  was  not  longer.  72.5  per  cent,  of  the  unmarried  group  belong 
to  the  last  two  centuries;  and  59.8  per  cent,  of  them  are  English  and 
American. 

29.8  per  cent,  of  the  eminent  women  married  men  of  sufficient 
distinction  to  fall  within  our  criterion  of  eminence  selected  for  the 
women.  Twelve  of  these  men  were  married  to  more  than  one  of 
the  eminent  women,  and  twenty-two  of  the  women  had  more  than 
one  eminent  husband.  The  women  with  eminent  husbands  were 
chiefly  of  French,  English,  German,  Roman,  Italian,  Spanish, 
Byzantine,  and  Austrian  birth.  The  average  eminence  of  these 
woman  is  high,  but  it  is,  in  part,  a  glory  reflected  from  their  hus- 
bands, since  84  or  32.4  per  cent,  of  this  group  are  classified  under 
"Marriage." 

Eminent  women  of  the  nineteenth  century  have  married  ten 
years  later  in  life  than  those  of  the  twelfth  century.  There  were 
a  few  fifteen-year-old  brides  in  the  last  century,  but  there  was  also 
one  of  sixty-seven.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  the  oldest  eminent 
bride  was  eighteen,  and  in  the  fifteenth  century,  twenty-six. 

Reformers  and  musicians  marry  latest  in  life.  The  average  age 
of  eminent  Russian  brides  is  18.4  years;  of  American,  27.7  years. 

Eminent  women  have  not,  on  the  whole,  made  particularly 
successful  wives,  since  11.6  per  cent,  of  the  781  unions  of  which  we 
have  record,  have  ended  in  separation  or  divorce.  36  of  the  91 
cases  of  dissolution  occurred  in  families  where  both  husband 
and  wife  were  famous.  But  since  twelve  of  these  women  are 
classified  under  "Marriage"  and  two  under  "Birth,"  the  real  facts 
for  the  women  who  won  their  eminence  by  personal  effort,  are  that 
9  writers,  5  actresses,  3  musicians,  2  mothers,  1  scholar,  1  politician, 
and  1  women  famous  for  her  reUgion,  were  separated  from  husbands 
who  were  also  eminent. 

Divorces  have  been  most  frequent  among  distinguished  women 
of  German  birth.  Except  in  families  of  aristocratic  extraction, 
divorces  and  separations  are  recorded  only  since  the  seventeenth 
century. 

The  eminent  women  have  lived  to  an  average  age  of  60.8  years. 
There  is  a  correlation  between  degree  of  eminence  and  length  of 
life  since  the  most  eminent  third  of  the  group  of  women  lived  to  an 
average  of  3.3  years  longer  than  the  least  eminent  third.  Length 
of  life  has  increased  through  the  centuries,  the  average  age  in  the 
fourteenth  century  being  48.7  years,  and  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
62.7  years.  Philanthropists  and  reformers  are  the  only  groups 
whose  average  length  of  life  exceeds  the  allotted  three  score  years 


CONCLUSIONS  89 

and  ten.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  American  women  of  ability 
live  on  the  average  2.8  years  longer  than  Scotch  women,  3.5  years 
longer  than  German  women,  6.4  years  longer  than  English  women, 
and  7.9  years  longer  than  the  eminent  women  of  France.  Since 
we  are  a  young  nation,  we  must  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  our  average  is  not  reduced  by  early  deaths  in  earlier  centuries, 
as  is  the  case  with  older  countries,  but  it  is  also  unquestionably  true 
that  our  position  in  this  table  reflects  credit  on  the  physical  vigor 
of  the  American  people  as  well  as  upon  our  hygienic  and  sanitary 
conditions  and  the  skill  of  American  physicians  and  surgeons. 

62  of  the  eminent  women  suffered  violent  or  unnatural  deaths. 
Nineteen  of  this  group  were  Romans;  France  contributed  eight, 
leading  the  modern  nations  in  this  respect.  Sovereigns,  or  the 
wives  of  sovereigns,  have  been  the  most  frequent  victims.  The 
largest  number  of  these  deaths  occurred  during  the  third  century, 
the  period  of  the  religious  persecutions,  but  there  were  nine  cases 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  six  in  each  of  the  last  two  centuries. 

Our  study  shows  a  marked  tendency  for  daughters  to  win 
eminence  in  the  same  or  closely  related  line  of  activity  in  which 
their  fathers  were  engaged. 

The  largest  number  of  cases  of  relationship  is  found  in  the 
first  generation  between  eminent  sister  and  eminent  sister.  In 
33  out  of  38  instances  of  relationship  the  younger  woman  followed 
the  same  or  closely  related  line  of  work  as  her  eminent  relative. 

107  of  the  868  are  contemporary  women  of  distinction.  England 
leads  in  the  production  of  able  women  in  the  present  generation, 
but  America  and  Germany  follow  closely.  Literature  still  holds 
first  place  as  the  stepping  stone  to  eminence,  but  music  and  the 
stage  seem  to  be  calling  a  larger  number  of  women  than  previously. 

In  order  to  do  justice  to  this  group  of  eminent  women  a  number 
of  lines  of  inquiry  not  yet  touched  upon  deserve  to  be  investigated. 
Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  is  a  study  of  their  children. 
A  knowledge  of  the  number  of  children  born  to,  or  reared  to  maturity 
by  these  635  wives  will  determine  whether,  in  attaining  eminence, 
they  sacrificed  the  function  universally  accepted  as  the  noblest. 
It  may  perhaps  be  shown  that  whatever  they  did  to  perpetuate 
themselves  in  history  was  not  at  the  expense  of,  but  rather  in 
addition  to,  the  duties  of  motherhood.  Some  correlation,  either 
positive  or  negative,  may  be  revealed  between  the  size  of  family 
and  the  degree  of  eminence  attained. 

The  number  of  children  who  became  famous  is  also  of  great 
importance  from  the  standpoint  of  heredity,  and  it  will  at  least  be 
interesting  to  know  whether  more  of  them  were  sons  or  daughters, 
and  how  their  fields  of  life  activity  agreed  with  or  differed  from  that 


90  A   STATISTICAL   STUDY  OF  EMINENT   WOMEN 

of  their  mothers.     For  the  daughters,  these  facts  have  already  been 
disclosed,  but  for  the  sons  the  data  have  not  yet  been  gathered. 

Our  figures  furnish  record  of  the  mothers  of  the  eminent  women 
who  were  themselves  eminent  according  to  our  standard.  When 
similar  information  is  collected  for  the  fathers  we  shall  have  a  record 
of  three  generations,  and  it  is  possible  that  interesting  facts  regarding 
certain  lines  of  activity  may  be  disclosed. 

A  study  of  state  of  health,  and  cause  of  death  may  reveal  much 
needed  information  as  to  whether  female  genius  differs  physically 
or  physiologically  from  others  of  her  sex. 

The  relative  variability  of  the  sexes  is  a  matter  of  prime  im- 
portance in  a  study  of  female  ability,  as  is  also  the  question  of 
psychical  sex  differences.  Thorough  examination  of  the  social  and 
educational  environment  of  this  group  of  eminent  women  is  not  only 
desirable,  but  essential  in  understanding  them  as  the  historical 
representatives  of  their  time.  The  relative  contribution  of  the 
aristocracy  demands  consideration,  and  a  careful  social  classi- 
fication ought  to  be  made.  Women  have  not  always  had  the 
advantages  they  now  enjoy.  It  is  probably  true  that  the  female 
voice  has  not  varied  in  sweetness  through  the  ages,  yet  it  was  not 
until  the  eighteenth  century  that  we  have  record  of  a  noted  song- 
stress. Have  we  any  reason  to  believe  that  when  women  have 
gained  all  the  rights  and  privileges  for  which  they  now  clamor  that 
any  significant  results  will  follow?  Is  there  a  biological  limitation 
which  says  to  the  female,  ''Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther"? 
While  we  may  never  be  able  to  settle  these  questions  definitely,  a 
just  and  thorough  consideration  of  all  the  points  of  approach  will, 
we  trust,  enable  us  to  answer  with  some  degree  of  certainty  the 
question  which  we  propounded  at  the  beginning  of  our  study,  and 
which  has  haunted  us  throughout  the  research,  namely— has 
innate  inferiority  been  the  reason  for  the  small  number  of  eminent 
women,  or  has  civilization  never  yet  allowed  them  an  opportunity 
.to  develop  their  innate  powers  and  possibilities? 


VITA 

Cora  Olive  Castle  nee  Sutton  was  born  May  11,  1880,  in  Lydia, 
Minnesota.  She  received  her  early  training  in  the  public  school  at 
Prior  Lake,  Minnesota,  and  from  1894  to  1899  was  engaged  in 
teaching  rural  schools,  and  in  private  study.  For  two  years  she 
attended  the  Minneapolis  Academy,  at  Minneapolis,  Minnesota, 
and  received  a  diploma  from  that  institution  in  June,  1901.  The 
next  four  years  were  spent  at  the  University  of  Minnesota,  where 
she  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  June,  1905.  During 
the  year  1905-1906  she  was  Principal  of  the  High  School  at  Fosston, 
Minnesota.  She  was  married  to  H.  Edward  Castle,  M.D.,  June 
27,  1906.  From  January,  1907,  to  May,  1909,  she  studied  at  the 
University  of  California,  and  received  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Letters  in  May,  1908.  Her  work  there  was  in  the  departments  of 
English  and  Education,  and  under  the  direction  of  Professors 
Thomas  Sanford  and  Fletcher  B.  Dresslar.  She  studied  at  Columbia 
University  during  the  years  1909-1910  and  1912-1913  in  the 
departments  of  Psychology  and  Education.  Her  work  at  Columbia 
has  been  under  Professors  J.  McKeen  Cattell,  R.  S.  Woodworth, 
John  Dewey,  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  Felix  Krueger,  Percival  Cole, 
Paul  Monroe,  WiUiam  H.  Kilpatrick,  and  Thomas  D.  Wood. 


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